LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

University  of  California. 


GIFT  OK 

Class          ^.  ^  i  ^ 
\^ 


LAURENCE  STERNE 
IN  GERMANY 


A  Contribution  to  the  Study  of  the 
Literary  Relations  of  England  and 
Germany  in  the  Eighteenth   Century 


BY 


HARVEY  WATERMAN  THAYER,  A.B. 

SOMETIME    FELLOW    IN    GERMANIC    LANGUAGES 

AND    LITERATURES,    COLUMBIA 

UNIVERSITY 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the  Requirements  for  the 

Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Faculty  of  Philosophy 

Columbia  University 


/  OF  THE 

I    UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK 

1905 


Copyright,  1905 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Printed  from  type  September,  1905 


p^ 


Ul'^ 


> 


,# 


THE     MASON     PRESS 
SYRACUSE,      NEW     YORK 


NOTE 

Mr.  Thayer  has  undertaken  to  write,  in  detail  and  from  the 
sources,  the  history  of  Sterne's  vogue  in  Germany.  As  thus 
broadly  defined  the  task  had  not  before  been  attempted,  al- 
though phases  of  it  had  been  treated,  more  or  less  thoroughly, 
in  recent  monographs.  The  work  here  submitted,  the  result 
of  careful  research  in  a  number  of  American  and  European 
libraries,  is  in  my  judgment  an  interesting  and  valuable  con- 
tribution to  our  knowledge  of  the  literary  relations  of  England 
and  Germany  at  the  time  of  the  great  renascence  of  German 
letters. 

Calvin  Thomas. 

Columbia   University,  May,    1905. 


Ill 


PREFACE 

The  following  study  was  begun  in  the  autumn  of  1901,  and 
was  practically  finished  now  more  than  a  year  ago.  Since 
its  completion  two  works  of  interest  to  lovers  of  Sterne  have 
been  issued,  Czerny's  study  of  Sterne's  influence  upon  Hippel 
and  Jean  Paul,  a  work  which  the  present  author  had  planned 
as  a  continuation  of  this  book,  and  Prof.  Cross's  new  definitive 
edition  of  Sterne. 

I  desire  here  to  express  my  thanks  to  Prof.  W.  H.  Carpen- 
ter, Prof.  Calvin  Thomas  and  Prof,  W.  P.  Trent,  under  whose 
guidance  my  last  year  of  University  residence  was  spent :  their 
interest  in  my  work  was  generous  and  unfailing;  their  admir- 
able scholarship  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  an  inspira- 
tion. I  am  indebted  to  Prof.  Carpenter  and  Prof.  Thomas  for 
many  helpful  suggestions  regarding  the  present  work,  and  the 
latter  especially  has  given  freely  of  his  valuable  time  to  a  con- 
sideration of  my  problems.  I  am  grateful  also  to  several  other 
friends  for  helpful  and  kindly  service,  and  to  many  librarians 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe  for  their  courtesy. 

New  York,  IMay  i,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  I.       Introduction         ......       i 

Chapter  II.     Sterne  in  Germany  before  the  Publication 

of  The  Sentimental  Journey  .  .  .  g 
Chapterlll.  The  Publication  of  The  Sentimental  Journey  35 
Chapter  IV.     Sterne  in  Germany  after  the  Publication  of 

The  Sentimental  Journey  .  .  .  .55 
Chapter  V.  Sterne's  Influence  in  Germany  .  .  .84 
Chapter  VI.  Imitators  of  Sterne  .  .  .  .  .112 
Chapter VII.    Opposition   to   Sterne   and    His   Type    of 

Sentimentalism  .         .         .         .         .   156 

Chapter  VIII.  Bibliog-raphy 183 

Index         ..........  ig6 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

The  indebtedness  of  German  culture  to  other  peoples  has 
been  the  theme  of  much  painstaking  investigation.  The  his- 
tory of  German  literature  is,  in  large  measure,  the  story  of  its 
successive  periods  of  connection  with  the  literatures  of  other 
lands,  and  hence  scholars  have  sought  with  industry  and  in- 
sight to  bound  and  explain  such  literary  inter-relations. 

The  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  period  of 
predominant  English  influence.  The  first  half  of  the  century 
had  fostered  this  ascendency  through  the  popularity  of  the 
moral  weeklies,  the  religious  epic,  and  the  didactic  poetry  of 
Britain.  Admiration  for  English  ideals  was  used  as  a  weapon 
to  combat  French  dominion  in  matters  of  taste,  till  a  kind  of 
Anglomania  spread,  which  was  less  absolute  than  the  waning 
Gallomania  had  been,  only  in  such  measure  as  the  nature  of 
the  imitated  lay  nearer  the  German  spirit  and  hence  allowed 
and  cherished  a  parallel  independence  rather  than  demanded 
utter  subjection.  Indeed,  the  study  of  English  masters  may 
be  said  to  have  contributed  more  than  any  other  external  cause 
to  the  golden  age  of  German  letters ;  to  have  worked  with  un- 
told beneficence  in  bringing  faltering  Germany  to  a  conscious- 
ness of  her  own  inherent  possibilities.  This  fact  of  foreign 
awakening  of  national  greatness  through  kinship  of  inborn 
racial  characteristics  removes  the  seeming  inconsistency  that 
British  influence  was  paramount  at  the  very  time  of  Germany's 
most  individual,  most  national,  outburst. 

The  German  literary  world  concerned  itself  zealously  with 
each  new  development  across  the  channel.  The  German  liter- 
ary periodicals  were  diligent  and  alert  in  giving  their  subscrib- 

1  1 


ers  adequate  intelligence  concerning  new  books  in  England,^ 
and  various  journals^  devoted  exclusively  to  a  retailing  of  Eng- 
lish thought  for  German  readers  are  by  their  very  existence 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  supreme  interest  in  things  British. 
Through  the  medium  of  these  literary  journals,  intelligence 
concerning  British  literary  interests  was  disseminated,  and  the 
way  was  thus  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  British  authors 
themselves.  Every  English  writer  of  eminence,  every  English 
literary  movement  was  in  some  way  or  other  echoed  in  the 
literature  of  the  German  fatherland.  English  authors  were 
read  in  the  original,  and  in  numerous  and  popular  translations. 
A  German  following  is  a  well-nigh  certain  inference  from  an 
English  success.  Sometimes  the  growth  of  German  apprecia- 
tion and  imitation  was  immediate  and  contemporaneous,  or 
nearly  so,  with  the  English  interest,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ger- 
man enthusiasm  for  Bishop  Percy's  "Reliques."  At  other  times 
it  tarried  behind  the  period  of  interest  in  England,  and  was 
gradual  in  its  development.  The  suggestion  that  a  book, 
especially  a  novel,  was  translated  from  the  English  was  an 
assurance  of  its  receiving  consideration,  and  many  original 
German  novels  were  published  under  the  guise  of  English 
translations.  Hermes  roguishly  avoids  downright  falsehood, 
and  yet  avails  himself  of  this  popular  trend  by  describing  his 
"Miss  Fanny  Wilkes"  upon  the  title  page  as  "So  gut  als  aus 
dem  Englischen  iibersetzt,"  and  printing  "so  gut  als"  in  very 
small  type.  Miiller  in  a  letter^  to  Gleim,  dated  at  Cassel,  May 
27,   1 78 1,  proposes  to  alter  names  in  Liscow's  works  and  to 

"■  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  words  prefaced  to  the  revived  and  retitled  Frank- 
furter Gclehrte  Anscigcn,  which  state  the  purpose  of  the  periodical:  "Besonders 
wird  man  fiir  den  Liebhaber  der  englischen  Litteratur  dahin  sorgen,  dass  ihm  kein 
einziger  Artikel,  der  seiner  Aufmerksamkeit  wiirdig  ist,  entgehe,  und  die  Preise 
der  englischen  Biicher  wo  moglich  allzeit  bemerken."  (Frankfurter  gel.  Ans.,  1772, 
No.   I,  January  3.) 

-  Elze,  "Die  Englische  Sprache  und  Litteratur  in  Deutschland,"  gives  what  pur- 
ports to  be  a  complete  list  of  these  German-English  periodicals  in  chronological 
order,  but  he  begins  his  register  with  Eschenburg's  Brittischcs  Museum  fiir  die 
Deutschen,  1777-81,  thus  failing  to  mention  the  more  significant,  because  earlier, 
journals:  die  Brittische  Bibliothek,  which  appeared  first  in  1759  in  Leipzig, 
edited  by  Karl  Wilhelm  Miiller:  and  Bremisches  Atagazin  sur  Ausbreitung  der  Wis- 
senschaften,  Kiinste  und  Tugcnd,  Von  einigen  Liebhabern  derselben  mchrcnthcils 
aus  den  Englischen  Monatsschriften  gesammelt  und  herausgegcben,  Bremen  and 
Leipzig,  1757-1766,  when  the  Neues  Bremisches  Magasin  begins. 

^  Hriefe  deutscher  Gelehrten  aus  Gleim's  Nachlass.     Bd.   II,  p.   213. 


publish  his  books  as  an  English  translation :  "Germany  would 
read  him  with  delight,"  he  says,  and  Gleim,  in  his  reply,  finds 
the  idea  "splendid."  Out  of  this  one  reads  clearly  how  the 
Germany  of  that  time  was  hanging  on  the  lips  of  England. 

As  has  been  suggested,  conscious  or  unconscious  imitation 
in  the  home  literature  is  the  unavoidable  result  of  admiration 
for  the  foreign ;  imitation  of  English  masters  is  written  large 
on  this  period  of  German  letters.  Germany  is  especially  in- 
debted to  the  stirring  impulse  of  the  English  novel. 

The  intellectual  development  of  a  people  is  observable  in  its 
successive  periods  of  interest  in  different  kinds  of  narration, 
in  its  attitude  toward  the  relation  of  fictitious  events.  The 
interest  in  the  extraordinary  always  precedes  that  in  the  or- 
dinary ;  the  unstored  mind  finds  pleasure  only  in  the  unusual. 
An  appreciation  of  the  absorbing,  vital  interest  of  everyday  ex- 
istence is  the  accomplishment  of  reflective  training,  and  be- 
tokens the  spiritualized  nature.  Yet  it  must  be  observed  in 
passing  that  the  crude  interest  of  unschooled  ignorance,  and 
undeveloped  taste  in  the  grotesque,  the  monstrous,  the  unreal, 
is  not  the  same  as  the  intellectual  man's  appreciation  of  the 
unreal  in  imagination  and  fancy.  The  German  novel  had 
passed  its  time  of  service  under  the  wild,  extraordinary  and 
grotesque.  The  crudities  of  such  tales  of  adventure  were  soft- 
ened and  eliminated  by  the  culturing  influence  of  formal  classi- 
cism and  by  a  newly  won  admiration  for  the  everyday  element  in 
life,  contemporaneous  with  and  dependent  upon  the  gradual 
appreciation  of  middle-class  worth.  At  this  point  the  English 
novel  stepped  in  as  a  guide,  and  the  gradual  shaping  of  the 
German  novel  in  the  direction  of  an  art-form  is  due  primarily 
to  the  prevailing  admiration  of  English  models. 

The  novel  has  never  been  a  characteristic  method  of  German 
self-expression,  while  if  any  form  of  literary  endeavor  can  be 
designated  as  characteristically  English,  the  novel  may  claim 
this  distinction ;  that  is,  more  particularly  the  novel  as  distin- 
guished from  the  romance.  "Robinson  Crusoe"  (1719)  united 
the  elements  of  the  extraordinary  and  the  everyday,  being  the 
practical,  unromantic  account  of  a  remarkable  situation ;  an  !  its 
extensive  vogue  in  Germany,  the  myriad  confessed  imitations. 


may  be  said  to  form  a  kind  of  transition  of  interests.  In  it  the 
commonplace  gains  interest  through  the  extraordinary  situa- 
tion. Such  an  awakening  assures  a  certain  measure  of  interest 
remaining  over  for  the  detailed  relation  of  the  everyday  activi- 
ties of  life,  when  removed  from  the  exceptional  situation. 
Upon  this  vantage  ground  the  novel  of  everyday  life  was  built. 
Near  the  mid-century  comes  another  mighty  influence  from 
England,  Richardson,  who  brings  into  the  narration  of  middle- 
class,  everyday  existence,  the  intense  analysis  of  human  sensi- 
bilities. Richardson  taught  Germany  to  remodel  her  theories 
of  heroism,  her  whole  system  of  admirations,  her  conception 
of  deserts.  Rousseau's  voice  from  France  spoke  out  a  stirring 
appeal  for  the  recognition  of  human  feelings.  Fielding, 
though  attacking  Richardson's  exaggeration  of  manner,  and 
opposing  him  in  his  excess  of  emotionalism,  yet  added  a  force- 
ful influence  still  in  favor  of  the  real,  present  and  ordinary,  as 
exemplified  in  the  lives  of  vigorous  human  beings. 

England's  leadership  in  narrative  fiction,  the  superiority  of 
the  English  novel,  especially  the  humorous  novel,  which  was 
tacitly  acknowledged  by  these  successive  periods  of  imitation, 
when  not  actually  declared  by  the  acclaim  of  the  critic  and  the 
preference  of  the  reading  public,  has  been  attributed  quite 
generally  to  the  freedom  of  life  in  England  and  the  compara- 
tive thraldom  in  Germany.  Gervinus^  enlarges  upon  this 
point,  the  possibility  in  Britain  of  individual  development  in 
character  and  in  action  as  compared  with  the  constraint  obtain- 
ing in  Germany,  where  originality,  banished  from  life,  was 
permissible  only  in  opinion.  His  ideas  are  substantially  iden- 
tical with  those  expressed  many  years  before  in  an  article  in 
the  Neue  Bibliothck  der  schonen  IVissenschaften-  entitled 
"Ueber  die  Laune."  Lichtenberg  in  his  brief  essay,  "Ueber  den 
deutschen  Roman, "^  is  undoubtedly  more  than  half  serious  in 
his  arraignment  of  the  German  novel  and  his  acknowledgment 

^  "Geschichte  der  deutschen  Dichtung,"  V,  pp.  184  ff.  The  comparative  in- 
feriority of  the  German  novel  is  discussed  by  I'Abbe  Denina  in  "La  Prusse  Lit- 
teraire  sous  Frederic  II,"  Berlin,  1791.  Vol.  I,  pp.  112  ff.  See  also  Julian 
Schmidt,  "Bilder  aus  dem  geistigen  Leben  unserer  Zeit."  Leipzig,  1870.  IV,  pp. 
270  ff. 

=  in,  pp.    I   ff. 

*  Vermischte  Schriften,   II,  p.  215. 


of  the  English  novehst's  advantage :  the  trend  of  this  satirical 
skit  coincides  with  the  opinion  above  outlined,  the  points  he 
makes  being  characteristic  of  his  own  humorous  bent.  That 
the  English  sleep  in  separate  apartments,  with  big  chimneys 
in  their  bedchambers,  that  they  have  comfortable  post-chaises 
with  seats  facing  one  another,  where  all  sorts  of  things 
may  happen,  and  merry  inns  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
traveler, — these  features  of  British  life  are  represented  as  af- 
fording a  grateful  material  to  the  novelist,  compared  with 
which  German  life  offers  no  corresponding  opportunity. 
Humor,  as  a  characteristic  element  of  the  English  novel,  has 
been  felt  to  be  peculiarly  dependent  upon  the  fashion  of  life 
in  Britain.  Blankenburg,  another  eighteenth-century  student 
of  German  literary  conditions,  in  his  treatise  on  the  noveP,  has 
similar  theories  concerning  the  sterility  of  German  life  as  com- 
pared with  English,  especially  in  the  production  of  humorous 
characters^.  He  asserts  theoretically  that  humor  (Laune) 
should  never  be  employed  in  a  novel  of  German  life,  because 
"Germany's  political  institutions  and  laws,  and  our  nice 
Frenchified  customs  would  not  permit  this  humor."  "On  the 
one  side,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "is  Gothic  formality ;  on  the  other, 
frivolity."  Later  in  the  volume  (p.  191)  he  confines  the  use 
of  humorous  characters  to  subordinate  roles ;  otherwise,  he 
says,  the  tendency  to  exaggeration  would  easily  awaken  dis- 
pleasure and  disgust.  Yet  in  a  footnote,  prompted  by  some 
misgiving  as  to  his  theory,  Blankenburg  admits  that  much  is 
possible  to  genius  and  cites  English  novels  where  a  humorous 
character  appears  with  success  in  the  leading  part ;  thus  the 
theorist  swerves  about,  and  implies  the  lack  of  German  genius 
in  this  regard.     Eberhard  in  his  "Handbuch  der  Aesthetik/'^ 

^  "Versuch  iiber  den  Roman."  Frankfort  and  Leipzig,  1774,  p.  528.  This 
study  contains  frequent  allusions  to  Sterne  and  occasional  quotation  from  his 
works,  pp.  48,   191,   193,  200,  210,  273,  351,  36s,  383,  426. 

^  There  is  a  similar  tribute  to  English  humor  in  "Ueber  die  moralische  Schonheit 
und  Philosophie  des  Lebens."  Altenburg,  1772,  p.  199.  Compare  also  Herder's 
opinion  in  "Ideen  zur  Geschichte  und  Kritik  der  Poesie  und  bildenden  Kiinste," 
1794-96,  No.  49,  in  "Abhandlungen  und  Briefe  iiber  schone  Literatur  und  Kunst." 
Tiibingcn,  1806,  I,  pp.  375-380;  compare  also  passages  in  his  "Fragmente"  and 
"Wiildchen." 

^  Second  edition,  Halle,  1807,  II,  pp.  309  ff.  The  definition  of  humor  and  the 
perplexing  question  as  to  how  far  it  is  identical  with   "Laune,"  have  received  con- 


in  a  rather  unsatisfactory  and  confused  study  of  humor,  ex- 
presses opinions  agreeing  with  those  cited  above,  and  states  that 
in  England  the  feeling  of  independence  sanctions  the  surrender 
of  the  individual  to  eccentric  humor:  hence  England  has 
produced  more  humorists  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world  com- 
bined. There  is,  however,  at  least  one  voice  raised  to  explain 
in  another  way  this  deficiency  of  humor  in  German  letters.  A 
critic  in  the  Bibliothek  der  schoncn  Wissenschaften^  attributes 
this  lack  not  to  want  of  original  characters  but  to  a  lack  of 
men  like  Cervantes,  Ben  Jonson,  Butler,  Addison,  Fielding. 

There  is  undoubtedly  some  truth  in  both  points  of  view,  but 
the  defects  of  the  eighteenth  century  German  novel  are  due 
in  larger  measure  to  the  pecuHar  mental  organization  of  Ger- 
man authorship  than  to  lack  of  interesting  material  in  German 
life.  The  German  novel  was  crushed  under  the  weight  of  ped- 
antry and  pedagogy.  Hillebrand  strikes  the  root  of  the  mat- 
ter when  he  says,-  "We  are  all  schoolmasters,  even  Hippel 
could  not  get  away  from  the  tutorial  attitude."  The  inborn 
necessity  of  German  culture  is  to  impart  information,  to  seek 
recruits  for  the  maintenance  of  some  idea,  to  exploit  some  po- 
litical, educational,  or  moral  theory.  This  irresistible  impulse 
has  left  its  trail  over  German  fiction.  The  men  who  wrote 
novels,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  observe,  began  to  theorize,  and 
the  results  of  this  speculation  were  inevitably  embodied  in  their 
works.  They  were  men  of  mind  rather  than  men  of  deeds, 
who  minimized  the  importance  of  action  and  exaggerated  the 
reflective,  the  abstract,  the  theoretical,  the  inner  life  of  man. 
Hettner,^  with  fine  insight,  points  to  the  introduction  to  "Se- 
baldus  Nothanker"  as  exhibiting  the  characteristic  of  this 
epoch  of  fiction.  Speculation  was  the  hero's  world,  and  in 
speculation  lay  for  him  the  important  things  of  life;  he  knew 
not  the  real  world,  hence  speculation  concerning  it  was  his  oc- 
cupation.    Consequential  connection  of  events  with  character 

siderable  attention  at  the  hands  of  aesthetic  critics;  compare,  for  example,  Lessing 
in  the  "Hamburgische  Dramaturgic." 

1  VII.  p.  353.      1761. 

-  "Deutsche  Nationalliteratur,"  II,  p.  535.     Hamburg,  1850. 

^"Geschichte  der  deutschen  Literatur  im  achtzehnten  Jahrhundert,"  III,  i, 
pp.  363   ff. 


makes  the  English  novel  the  mirror  of  English  life.  Failure 
to  achieve  such  a  union  makes  the  German  novel  a  mirror  of 
speculative  opinions  concerning  life. 

Hence  we  have  Germany  in  the  mid-eighteenth  century  pre- 
pared to  accept  and  adopt  any  literary  dogma,  especially  when 
stamped  with  an  English  popularity,  which  shall  represent  an 
interest  rather  in  extraordinar}^  characters  and  unusual  opin- 
ions than  in  astounding  adventure ;  which  shall  display  a 
knowledge  of  human  feeling  and  foster  the  exuberant  expres- 
sion of  it. 

Beside  the  devotees  of  any  literary  fashion  are  those  who 
analyze  philosophically  the  causes,  and  forecast  the  probable 
results  of  such  a  following.  Thinking  Germany  became  ex- 
ercised over  these  facts  of  successive  intellectual  and  literary- 
dependence,  as  indicative  of  national  limitations  or  foreboding 
disintegration.  And  thought  was  accordingly  directed  to  the 
study  of  the  influence  of  imitation  upon  the  imitator,  the  effects 
of  the  imitative  process  upon  national  characteristics,  as  well  as 
the  causes  of  imitation,  the  fundamental  occasion  for  national 
bondage  in  matters  of  life  and  letters.  The  part  played  by  Dr. 
Edward  Young's  famous  epistle  to  Richardson,  "Conjectures  on 
Original  Composition"  (London,  1759),  in  this  struggle  for 
originality  is  considerable.  The  essay  was  reprinted,  translated 
and  made  the  theme  of  numerous  treatises  and  discussions.^ 
One  needs  only  to  mention  the  concern  of  Herder,  as  displayed 

^  See  Introduction  to  "Briefe  iiber  Merkwurdigkeiten  der  Litteratur"  in  Seuf- 
fert's  Deutsche  Litteraturdenkmale  des  i8.  und  19.  Jahrhunderts.  The  literature  of 
this  study  of  imitation  in  the  Germany  of  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
is  considerable.  The  effort  of  much  in  the  Litteratur-Briefe  may  be  mentioned 
as  contributing  to  this  line  of  thought.  The  prize  question  of  the  Berlin  Academy 
for  1788  brought  forth  a  book  entitled:  "Wie  kann  die  Nachahmung  sowohl  alter 
als     neuer     fremden     Werke     der     schonen     Wissenschaften     des     vaterlandischen  ^yi 

Geschmack  entwickeln  und  vervollkommnen?"  by  Joh.  Chr.  Schwabe,  professor  in 
Stuttgart.  (Berlin,  pp.  120;  reviewed  in  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung.  1790.  I,  pp.  632-640.) 
Perhaps  the  first  English  essay  upon  German  imitation  of  British  masters  is  that 
in  the  Critical  Journal,  Vol.  Ill,  which  was  considered  of  sufficient  moment  for  a 
German  translation.  See  Morgenblatt,  I,  Nr.  162,  July  8,  1807.  A  writer  in  the 
Auserlescne  Bibliothek  der  neusten  deutschen  Litteratur  (Lemgo,  1772-3),  in  an 
article  entitled  "Vom  Zustande  des  Geschmacks  beim  deutschen  Publikum,"  traces 
the  tendency  to  imitate  to  the  German  capacity  for  thinking  rather  than  for  feeling. 
(Ill,  pp.  683  ff.)  "Das  deutsche  Publikum,"  he  says,  "scheint  dazu  bestimmt  zu 
seyn,  nachzuahmen,  nachzuurtheilen,  nachzuempfinden."  Justus  Moser  condemns 
his  fellow  countrymen  soundly  for  their  empty  imitation.  See  fragment  published 
in  "Sammtliche  Werke,"  edited  by  B.  R.  Abeken.      Berlin,  1858.      IV,  pp.  104-5. 


8 

in  the  "Fragmente  iiber  die  neuere  deutsche  Litteratur,"  and 
his  statement^  with  reference  to  the  predicament  as  reaHzed  by- 
thoughtful  minds  may  serve  as  a  summing  up  of  that  part  of 
the  situation.  "Seit  der  Zeit  ist  keine  Klage  lauter  and  hau- 
figer  als  iiber  den  Mangel  von  Originalen,  von  Genies,  von 
Erfindern,  Beschwerden  iiber  die  Nachahmungs-  und  gedank- 
enlose  Schreibsucht  der  Deutschen." 

This  thoughtful  study  of  imitation  itself  was  accompanied 
by  more  or  less  pointed  opposition  to  the  heedless  importation 
of  foreign  views,  and  protests,  sometimes  vigorous  and  keen, 
sometimes  flimsy  and  silly,  were  entered  against  the  slavish 
imitation  of  things  foreign.  Endeavor  was  turned  toward  the 
establishment  of  independent  ideals,  and  the  fostering  of  a  taste 
for  the  characteristically  national  in  literature,  as  opposed  to 
frank  imitation  and  open  borrowing.^ 

The  story  of  Laurence  Sterne  in  Germany  is  an  individual 
example  of  sweeping  popularity,  servile  admiration,  extensive 
imitation  and  concomitant  opposition. 

^Herder's  sammtliche  Werke,  edited  by  B.  Suphan,  Berlin,  Weidman,  1877,  I, 
254.  In  the  tenth  fragment  (second  edition)  he  says  the  Germans  have  imitated 
other  nations,  "so  dass  Nachahmer  beinahe  zum  Beiwort  und  zur  zweiten  Sylbe 
unseres  Namens  geworden."  See  II,  p.  51.  ]\Iany  years  later  Herder  does  not 
seem  to  view  this  period  of  imitation  with  such  regret  as  the  attitude  of  these  earlier 
criticisms  would  forecast.  In  the  "Ideen  zur  Geschichte  und  Kritik  der  Poesie  und 
bildenden  Kunste,"  1794-96,  he  states  with  a  burst  of  enthusiasm  over  the  adapta- 
bility of  the  German  language  that  he  regards  imitation  as  no  just  reproach,  for 
thereby  has  Germany  become  immeasurably  the  richer. 

^  The  kind  of  praise  bestowed  on  Hermes's  "Sophiens  Reise"  is  a  case  in  point; 
it  was  greeted  as  the  first  real  German  novel,  the  traces  of  English  imitation  being 
hardly  noticeable.  See  Magacin  der  deutschen  Critik,  Vol.  I,  St.  2,  pp.  245-251. 
1772,  signed  "Kl."  Sattler's  "Friederike"  was  accorded  a  similar  welcome  of  Ger- 
man patriotism;  see  Magazin  der  deutschen  Critik,  III,  St.  i,  p.  233.  The 
"Litterarische  Reise  durch  Deutschland"  (Leipzig,  1786,  p.  82)  calls  "Sophiens 
Reise"  the  first  original  German  novel.  See  also  the  praise  of  Von  Thiimmel's 
"Wilhelmine"  and  "Sophiens  Reise"  in  Blankenburg's  "Versuch  iiber  den  Roman," 
pp.  237-9.  Previously  Germans  had  often  hesitated  to  lay  the  scenes  of  their 
novels  in  Germany,  and  in  many  others  English  characters  traveling  or  residing 
in  Germany  supply  the  un-German  element. 


CHAPTER  II 

STERNE    IN    GERMANY    BEFORE    THE    PUBLICA- 
TION OF  THE  SENTIMENTAL  JOURNEY 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  assert  that  the  works  of  Yorick 
obtained  and  still  retain  a  relatively  more  substantial  position 
of  serious  consideration  and  recognized  merit  in  France  and 
Germany  than  in  the  countries  where  Sterne's  own  tongue  is 
spoken.^  His  place  among  the  English  classics  has,  from  the 
foreign  point  of  view,  never  been  a  dubious  question,  a  matter 
of  capricious  taste  and  unstable  ideals.  His  peculiar  message, 
whether  interpreted  and  insisted  upon  with  clearness  of  insight, 
or  blindness  of  misunderstanding,  played  its  not  unimportant 
part  in  certain  developments  of  continental  literatures,  and  his 
station  in  English  literature,  as  viewed  from  a  continental 
standpoint,  is  naturally  in  part  the  reflex  of  the  magnitude  of 
his  influence  in  the  literature  of  France  and  Germany,  rather 
than  an  estimate  obtained  exclusively  from  the  actual  worth  of 
his  own  accomplishment,  and  the  nature  of  his  own  service  as 
a  leader  and  innovator  in  English  letters. 

Sterne's  career  in  German  literature,  the  esteem  in  which 
his  own  works  have  been  held,  and  the  connection  between 
the  sentimental,  whimsical,  contradictory  English  clergyman 
and  his  German  imitators  have  been  noted,  generally  speaking, 
by  all  the  historians  of  literature ;  and  several  monographs  and 
separate  articles  have  been  published  on  single  phases  of  the 
theme.^  As  yet,  however,  save  for  the  investigations  which 
treat  only  of  two  or  three  authors,  there  has  been  hardly  more 

^A  reviewer  in  the  Frankfurter  Gel.  Anz.,  as  early  as  1774,  asserts  that  Sterne 
had  inspired  more  droll  and  sentimental  imitations  in  Germany  than  even  in  Eng- 
land.     (Apr.  5,  1774.) 

"  See  Bibliography  for  list  of  books  giving  more  or  less  extended  accounts  of 
Sterne's   influence. 


10 

than  the  general  statement  of  the  facts,  often  inadequate,  in- 
complete, and  sometimes  inexact. 

Sterne's  period  of  literary  activity  falls  in  the  sixties,  the 
very  heyday  of  British  supremacy  in  Germany.  The  fame  of 
I  Richardson  was  hardly  dimmed,  though  Musaus  ridiculed  his 
extravagances  in  "Grandison  der  Zweite"  (1760)  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  decade.  In  1762-66  Wieland's  Shakespeare 
translation  appeared,  and  his  original  works  of  the  period, 
"Agathon,"  begun  in  1761,  and  "Don  Silvio  von  Rosalva," 
published  in  1764,  betray  the  influence  of  both  Richardson  and 
Fielding.  Ebert  (1760 — )  revised  and  republished  his  transla- 
tion of  Young's  "Night  Thoughts,"  which  had  attained  popu- 
larity in  the  previous  decade.  Goldsmith's  "Vicar  of  Wake- 
field" (1766)  aroused  admiration  and  enthusiasm.  To  this 
time  too  belongs  Ossian's  mighty  voice.  As  early  as  1762  the 
first  bardic  translations  appeared,  and  Denis's  work  came  out  in 
1768.  Percy's  "Reliques,"  published  in  England  in  1765,  were 
extensively  read  and  cited,  a  stimulating  force  to  parallel  Ger- 
man activity.  A  selection  from  the  "Reliques"  appeared  in 
Gottingen  in  1767. 

The  outlook  maintained  in  Germany  for  the  worthy  in 
British  thought,  the  translatable,  the  reproducible,  was  so  vig- 
ilant and,  in  general,  so  discerning  that  the  introduction  of 
Yorick  into  Germany  was  all  but  inevitable.  The  nature  of 
the  literary  relations  then  obtaining  and  outlined  above  would 
forecast  and  almost  necessitate  such  an  adoption,  and  his  very 
failure  to  secure  recognition  w'ould  demand  an  explanation. 

Before  the  publication  of  Tristram  Shandy  it  would  be  futile 
to  seek  for  any  knowledge  of  Sterne  on  German  soil.  He  had 
published,  as  is  well  known,  two  sermons  preached  on  oc- 
casions of  note ;  and  a  satirical  skit,  with  kindly  purpose,  en- 
titled "The  History  of  a  Good  Warm  Watchcoat,"  had  been 
written,  privately  circulated,  and  then  suppressed ;  yet  he 
was  an  unknown  and  comparatively  insignificant  English 
clergyman  residing  in  a  provincial  town,  far,  in  those  days 
very  far,  from  those  centers  of  life  which  sent  their  enlighten- 
ment over  the  channel  to  the  continent.  His  fame  was  purely 
local.     His  sermons  had,  without  doubt,  rendered  the  vicar  of 


11 

Sutton  a  rather  conspicuous  ecclesiastic  throughout  that  re- 
gion ;  his  eccentricities  were  presumably  the  talk  of  neighbor- 
ing parishes ;  the  cathedral  town  itself  probably  tittered  at  his 
drolleries,  and  chattered  over  his  sentiments ;  his  social  graces 
undoubtedly  found  recognition  among  county  families  and  in 
provincial  society,  and  his  reputation  as  a  wit  had  probably 
spread  in  a  vague,  uncertain,  transitory   fashion  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  county.     Yet  the  facts  of  local  notoriety  and 
personal  vogue  are  without  real  significance  save  in  the  light 
of  later  developments ;  and  we  may  well  date  his  career  in  the 
world  of  books  from  the  year  1760,  when  the  London  world 
began  to  smile  over  the  first  volumes  of  Tristram   Shandy. 
From  internal  evidence  in  these  early  volumes  it  is  possible  to 
note  with  some  assurance  the  progress  of  their  composition 
and  the  approximate  time  of  their  completion.     In  his  way- 
ward, fitful  way,  and  possibly  for  his  own  amusement  more 
than  with  dreams  of  fame  and  fortune,^  Sterne  probably  began 
the  composition  of  Shandy  in  January,  1759,  and  the  comple- 
tion of  the  first  installment  is  assigned  to  the  summer  or  early 
autumn  of  that  year.     At  the  end  of  the  year  -  the  first  edition 
of  the   first   two   volumes   was   issued   in   York,   bearing   the 
imprint  of  John  Hinxham.     Dodsley  and   Cooper  undertook 
the  sale  of  the  volumes  in  London,  though  the  former  had  de- 
clined to  be  responsible  for  the  publication.     They  were  ready 
for  delivery  in  the  capital  on  the  first  day  of  the  new  year 
1760.      Sterne's   fame   was   immediate;   his   personal   triumph 
was  complete  and  ranks  with  the  great  successes  in  the  history 
of  our  literature.     On  his  arrival  in  London  in  March,  the 
world  aristocratic,  ecclesiastic,  and  literary  was  eager  to  re- 
ceive the  new  favorite,  and  his  career  of  bewildering  social  en- 

1  Sterne  did,  to  be  sure,  assert  in  a  letter  (Letters,  I,  p.  34)  that  he  wrote  "not 
to  be  fed  but  to  be  famous."  Yet  this  was  after  this  desire  had  been  fulfilled,  and, 
as  the  expression  agrees  with  the  tone  and  purpose  of  the  letter  in  which  it  is 
found,  it  does  not  seem  necessary  to  place  too  much  weight  upon  it.  It  is  very 
probable  in  view  of  evidence  collected  later  that  Sterne  began  at  least  to  write 
Tristram  as  a  pastime  in  domestic  misfortune.  The  thirst  for  fame  may  have 
developed  in  the  progress  of  the  composition. 

=  Fitzgerald  says  "end  of  December,"  Vol.  I,  p.  116,  and  the  volumes  were  re- 
viewed m  the  December  number  of  the  Monthly  Revieu;  1759  (Vol.  XXI,  pp.  561- 
571),  though  without  any  mention  of  the  author's  name.  This  review  mentions  no 
other  publisher  than  Cooper. 


12 

joyment,  vigorous  feasting  and  noteworthy  privilege  began, 
"No  one",  says  Forster,  "was  so  talked  of  in  London  this  year 
and  no  one  so  admired  as  the  tall,  thin,  hectic-looking  York- 
shire parson."^  From  this  time  on  until  his  death  Sterne  was 
a  most  conspicuous  personage  in  English  society,  a  striking, 
envied  figure  in  English  letters. 

And  yet  it  was  some  time  before  Germany  learned  of  the 
new  prodigy :  for  reasons  which  will  be  treated  later,  the 
growth  of  the  Sterne  cult  in  Germany  was  delayed,  so  that 
Yorick  was  in  the  plenitude  of  his  German  fame  when  England 
had  begun  to  look  askance  at  him  with  critical,  fault-finding 
eye,  or  to  accord  him  the  more  damning  condemnation  of  for- 
getfulness. 

The  first  mention  of  Sterne's  name  in  Germany  may  well  be 
the  brief  word  in  the  Hambiirgischer  unpartheyischer  Corre- 
spondent^ for  January  19,  1762,  in  a  letter  from  the  regular 
London  correspondent,  dated  January  8.  In  a  tone  of  particu- 
larity which  would  mark  the  introduction  of  a  new  and  strange 
personality  into  his  communications,  the  correspondent  states 
the  fact  of  Sterne's  departure  for  Paris  in  pursuit  of  lost 
health.  This  journal  may  further  be  taken  as  an  example  of 
those  which  devoted  a  remarkable  amount  of  space  to  British 
affairs,  since  it  was  published  in  the  North  German  seaport 
town,  where  the  mercantile  connection  with  Britain  readily 
fostered  the  exchange  of  other  than  purely  commercial  com- 
modities. And  yet  in  Hamburg  Sterne  waited  full  two  years 
for  a  scanty  recognition  even  of  his  English  fame. 

In  the  fourth  year  after  the  English  publication  of  Shandy 
comes  the  first  attempt  to  transplant  Sterne's  gallery  of  orig- 
inals to  German  shores.  This  effort,  of  rather  dubious  suc- 
cess, is  the  Ziickert  translation  of  Tristram  Shandy,  a  render- 
ing weak  and  inaccurate,  but  nevertheless  an  important  first 
step  in  the  German  Shandy  cult.  Johann  Friedrich  Ziickert,^ 
the  translator,  was  born  December  19,  1739,  and  died  in  Berlin 

^Quoted  by  Fitzgerald,  Vol.  I,  p.  126. 

^  The  full  title  of  this  paper  was  Stoats-  und  gelehrte  Zeitung  des  Ham- 
burgischen  unpartheyischen  Correspondenten. 

^Meusel:  Lexicon  der  vom  Jahr  1750  bis  1800  verstorbenen  teutschen  Schrift- 
steller.     Bd.  XV.      (Leipzig  bey  Fleischer)    1816,  pp,  472-474. 


13 

May  I,  1778.  He  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Frank- 
furt an  der  Oder,  became  a  physician  in  Berhn,  but,  because  of 
bodily  disabihties,  devoted  himself  rather  to  study  and  society 
than  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  His  publications  are 
fairly  numerous  and  deal  principally  with  medical  topics,  es- 
pecially with  the  question  of  foods.  In  the  year  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  Shandy  translation,  Ziickert  published  an  essay 
which  indicates  the  direction  of  his  tastes  and  gives  a  clue  to 
his  interest  in  Tristram.  It  was  entitled  "Medizinische  und 
Moralische  Abhandlung  von  den  Leidenschaften,"^  and  dis- 
closes a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  author  to  an  analysis  of  the 
passions  and  moods  of  man,  an  interest  in  the  manner  of  their 
generation,  and  the  method  of  their  working.  This  treatise 
was  quite  probably  written,  or  conceived,  while  its  author  was 
busied  with  Shandy,  and  his  division  of  the  temperaments 
(p.  53)  into  the  sanguine  or  warm  moist,  the  choleric  or  warm 
dry,  the  phlegmatic  or  cold  moist,  and  the  melancholy  or  cold 
dry,  is  not  unlike  some  of  Walter  Shandy's  half-serious,  half- 
jesting  scientific  theories,  though,  to  be  sure,  it  falls  in  with 
much  of  the  inadequate  and  ill-applied  terminology  of  the  time. 
Ziickert's  translation  of  the  first  six  parts-  of  Tristram 
Shandy  appeared  in  1763,  and  bore  the  imprint  of  the  pub- 
lisher Lange,  Berlin  und  Stralsund.  The  title  read  "Das 
Leben  und  die  Meynungen  des  Herrn  Tristram  Shandy,"  the 
first  of  the  long  series  of  "Leben  und  Meynungen"  which 
flooded  the  literature  of  the  succeeding  decades,  this  becoming 
a  conventional  title  for  a  novel.  It  is  noteworthy  that  until 
the  publication  of  parts  VII  and  VIII  in  1765,  there  is  no 
mention  of  the  real  author's  name.  To  these  later  volumes 
the  translator  prefaces  a  statement  which  contains  some  signifi- 
cant intelligence  concerning  his  aim  and  his  interpretation  of 
Sterne's  underlying  purpose.  He  says  he  would  never  have 
ventured  on  the  translation  of  so  ticklish  a  book  if  he  had  fore- 
seen the  difficulties ;  that  he  believed  such  a  translation  would 
be  a  real  service  to  the  German  public,  and  that  he  never 
fancied  the  critics  could  hold  him  to  the  very  letter,  as  in  the 

^  Berlin,  bei  August  Mylius.      1764. 

^  Behmer    (L.    Sterne  und  C.   M.   Wieland,  p.    15)    seems  to  be  unaware  of  the 
translations  of  the  following  parts,  and  of  the  authorship. 


14 

rendering  of  a  classic  author.  He  confesses  to  some  errors 
and  promises  corrections  in  a  possible  new  edition.  He  begs 
the  public  to  judge  the  translation  in  accord  with  its  purpose 
"to  delight  and  enliven  the  public  and  to  acquaint  the  Germans 
with  a  really  wonderful  genius."  To  substantiate  his  state- 
ment relative  to  the  obstacles  in  his  way,  he  outlines  in  a  few 
words  Sterne's  peculiar,  perplexing  style,  as  regards  both  use 
of  language  and  the  arrangement  of  material.  He  conceives 
Sterne's  purpose  as  a  desire  to  expose  to  ridicule  the  follies  of 
his  countrymen  and  to  incorporate  serious  truths  into  the  heart 
of  his  jesting. 

Since  the  bibliographical  facts  regarding  the  subsequent 
career  of  this  Ziickert  translation  have  been  variously  mangled 
and  misstated,  it  may  be  well,  though  it  depart  somewhat  from 
the  regular  chronological  order  of  the  narrative,  to  place  this 
information  here  in  connection  with  the  statement  of  its  first 
appearance.  The  translation,  as  published  in  1763,  contained 
only  the  first  six  parts  of  Sterne's  work.  In  1765  the  seventh 
and  eighth  parts  were  added,  and  in  1767  a  ninth  appeared, 
but  the  latter  was  a  translation  of  a  spurious  English  original.^ 
In  1769,  the  shrewd  publisher  began  to  issue  a  new  and 
slightly  altered  edition  of  the  translation,  which  bore,  however, 
on  the  title  page  "nach  einer  neuen  Uebersetzung"  and  the  im- 
print, Berlin  und  Stralsund  bey  Gottlieb  August  Langen,  Parts 
I  and  II  being  dated  1769;  Parts  III  and  IV,  1770;  Parts  V, 
VI,  VII  and  VIII,  1771  ;  Part  IX,  1772.  Volumes  III-VIII 
omit  Stralsund  as  a  joint  place  of  publication.  In  1773,  when 
it  became  noised  abroad  that  Bode,  the  sucessful  and  honored 
translator  of  the  Sentimental  Journey,  was  at  work  upon  a 
German  rendering  of  Shandy,  Lange  once  more  forced  his 
wares  upon  the  market,  this  time  publishing  the  Ziickert  trans- 
lation with  the  use  of  Wieland's  then  influential  name  on  the 
title  page,  "Auf  Anrathen  des  Hrn.  Hofraths  Wielands  ver- 

^  This  attempt  to  supply  a  ninth  volume  of  Tristram  Shandy  seems  to  have  been 
overlooked.  A  spurious  third  volume  is  mentioned  in  the  Natl.  Diet,  of  Biography 
and  is  attributed  to  John  Carr.  This  ninth  volume  is  however  noticed  in  the 
London  Magazine,  1766,  p.  691,  with  accompanying  statement  that  it  is  "not  by  the 
author  of  the  eight  volumes."  The  genuine  ninth  volume  is  mentioned  and  quoted 
in  this  magazine  in  later  issues,  1767,  p.  78,  206. 


15 

fasst."  Wieland  was  indignant  at  this  misuse  of  his  name  and 
repudiated  all  connection  with  this  "new  translation."  This 
edition  was  probably  published  late  in  1773,  as  Wieland  in  his 
review  in  the  Merkur  gives  it  that  date,  but  the  volumes  them- 
selves bear  the  date  of  1774.^  We  learn  from  the  Merkur  (VI. 
363)  that  Ziickert  was  not  responsible  for  the  use  of  Wieland's 
name. 

These  are  the  facts  of  the  case.  Meusel  in  his  account  of 
Ziickert  gives  the  date  of  the  first  edition  as  1774,  and  the 
second  edition  is  registered  but  the  date  is  left  blank.  Jordens, 
probably  depending  on  the  information  given  by  the  review  in 
the  Merkur,  to  which  reference  is  made,  assigns  1773  as  the 
date.     This  edition,  as  is  shown  above,  is  really  the  third. 

This  Ziickert  translation  is  first  reviewed  by  the  above  men- 
tioned Hamburgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent  in  the 
issue  for  January  4,  1764.  The  review,  however,  was  not  cal- 
culated to  lure  the  German  reader  of  the  periodical  to  a  perusal 
either  of  the  original,  or  of  the  rendering  in  question :  it  is  con- 
cerned almost  exclusively  with  a  summary  of  the  glaring  inac- 
curacies in  the  first  nineteen  pages  of  the  work  and  with  cor- 
rect translations  of  the  same ;  and  it  is  in  no  sense  of  the  word 
an  appreciation  of  the  book.  The  critic  had  read  Shandy  in 
the  original,  and  had  believed  that  no  German  hack  translator- 
would  venture  a  version  in  the  language  of  the  fatherland. 
It  is  a  review  which  shows  only  the  learning  of  the  reviewer, 
displays  the  weakness  of  the  translator,  but  gives  no  idea  of  the 
nature  of  the  book  itself,  not  even  a  glimpse  of  the  critic's  own 
estimate  of  the  book,  save  the  implication  that  he  himself  had 
understood  the  original,  though  many  Englishmen  even  were 
staggered  by  its  obtuseness  and  failed  to  comprehend  the  sub- 
tlety of  its  allusion.  It  is  criticism  in  the  narrowest,  most  ar- 
rogant sense  of  the  word,  destructive  instead  of  informing, 
blinding  instead  of  illuminating.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Sterne's 
name  is  nowhere  mentioned  in  the  review,  nor  is  there  a  hint 
of  Tristram's   English   popularity.     The   author   of  this   un- 

»  This  edition  is  reviewed  also  in  Almanack  der  deutschen  Musen,  lyy^,  p.  97. 
=  "Kein    Deutscher,    welcher    das    Uebersetzen    aus    fremden    Sprachen    als    ein 
Handwerk  ansieht." 


16 

signed  criticism  is  not  to  be  located  with  certainty,  yet  it  may 
well  have  been  Bode,  the  later  apostle  of  Sterne-worship  in 
Germany.  Bode  was  a  resident  of  Hamburg  at  this  time,  was 
exceptionally  proficient  in  English  and,  according  to  Jordens^ 
and  Schroder,-  he  was  in  1762-3  the  editor  of  the  Hamburg- 
ischer  unpartheyischcr  Correspondent.  The  precise  date  when 
Bode  severed  his  connection  with  the  paper  is  indeterminate, 
yet  this,  the  second  number  of  the  new  year  1764,  may  have 
come  under  his  supervision  even  if  his  official  connection  ended 
exactly  with  the  close  of  the  old  year.  To  be  sure,  when  Bode 
ten  years  later  published  his  own  version  of  Shandy,  he  trans- 
lated, with  the  exception  of  two  rather  insignificant  cases, 
none  of  the  passages  verbally  the  same  as  the  reviewer  in  this 
journal,  but  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  attach  any  great 
weight  to  this  fact.  Eight  or  nine  years  later,  when  undertak- 
ing the  monumental  task  of  rendering  the  whole  of  Shandy 
into  German,  it  is  not  likely  that  Bode  would  recall  the  old 
translations  he  had  made  in  this  review  or  concern  himself 
about  them.  A  brief  comparison  of  the  two  sets  of  transla- 
tions suggests  that  the  critic  was  striving  merely  for  accuracy 
in  correcting  the  errors  of  Ziickert,  and  that  Bode  in  his  for- 
mal translation  shows  a  riper  and  more  certain  feeling  for  the 
choice  of  words ;  the  effect  of  purposeful  reflection  is  unmis- 
takable. Of  course  this  in  no  way  proves  Bode  to  have  been 
the  reviewer,  but  the  indications  at  least  allow  the  probability. 

As  was  promised  in  the  preface  to  Parts  VII  and  VIII,  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  made,  the  new  edition  was 
regarded  as  an  opportunity  for  correction  of  errors,  but  this 
bettering  is  accomplished  with  such  manifest  carelessness  and 
ignorance  as  to  suggest  a  further  possibility,  that  the  publisher, 
Lange,  eager  to  avail  himself  of  the  enthusiasm  for  Sterne, 
which  burst  out  on  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental  Journey, 
thrust  this  old  translation  on  the  public  without  providing  for 
thorough  revision,  or  complete  correction  of  flagrant  errors. 
The  following  quotations  will  suffice  to  demonstrate  the  inad- 
equacy of  the  revision : 

'  I,  p.  III. 

^  "Lexicon  der  Hamburgischen  Schriftsteller,"  Hamburg,   1851-1883. 


17 


ORIGINAL 
I,  p.  6 :     Well,  you  may  take  my 
word  that  nine  parts  in  ten  of  a 
man's  sense  or  his  nonsense, 


P.  7:  The  minutest  philoso- 
phers. 

P.  7:  Being  guarded  and  cir- 
cumscribed with  rights. 

P.  8 :  A  most  unaccountable 
obliquity  in  the  manner  of  setting 
up  my  top. 


ZUECKERT  TRANSLATION 

P.  5 :  Gut,  ich  gebe  euch  mein 
Wort,  dass  neun  unter  zehnmal 
eines  jeden  Witz  oder  Dummheit. 

(The  second  edition  replaces 
"Witz"  by  "Verstand,"  which  does 
not  alter  the  essential  error  of  the 
rendering.) 

"Die  strengsten  Philosophen" 
remains  unchanged  in  second  edi- 
tion. 

P.  3 :  "Ein  Wesen  das  eben- 
falls  seine  Vorziige  hat"  is  un- 
altered. 

Meine  seltsame  Ungeschicklich- 
keit  meinen  Kopf  zu  recht  zu 
machen. 


This  last  astounding  translation  is  retained  in  the  second  edi- 
tion in  spite  of  the  reviewers'  ridicule,  but  the  most  nonsensical 
of  all  the  renderings,  whereby  "the  momentum  of  the  coach 
horse  was  so  great"  becomes  "der  Augenblick  des  Kutsch- 
pferdes  war  so  gross"  is  fortunately  corrected.^ 

These  examples  of  slipshod  alteration  or  careless  retention 
contrast  quite  unfavorably  with  the  attitude  of  the  translator 
in  the  preface  to  parts  VII  and  VIII,  in  which  he  confesses  to 
the  creeping  in  of  errors  in  consequence  of  the  perplexities  of 
the  rendering,  and  begs  for  "reminders  and  explanations"  of 
this  and  that  passage,  thereby  displaying  an  eagerness  to  ac- 
cept hints  for  emendation.  This  is  especially  remarkable  when 
it  is  noted  that  he  has  in  the  second  edition  not  even  availed 
himself  of  the  corrections  given  in  the  Haniburgischcr  unpar- 
theyischer  Correspondent,  and  has  allowed  some  of  the  most 
extraordinary  blunders  to  stand.  These  facts  certainly  favor 
the  theory  that  Ztickert  himself  had  little  or  nothing  to  do 
with  the  second  edition  and  its  imperfect  revision.  This  sup- 
position finds  further  evidence  in  the  fact  that  the  ninth  part 
of  Shandy,  as  issued  by  Lange  in  the  second  (1772)  and  third 
(1774)  editions,  was  still  a  translation  of  the  spurious  English 
volume,  although  the  fraud  was  well  known  and  the  genuine 


^Tristram  Shandy,  I,  p.   107,  and  Ziickert's  translation,  I,  p.   141. 
2 


18 

volume  was  read  and  appreciated.  Of  this  genuine  last  part 
Dr.  Ziickert  never  made  a  translation.  It  may  be  remarked  in 
passing  that  a  translation  bristling  with  such  errors,  blunders 
which  at  times  degrade  the  text  into  utter  nonsense,  could 
hardly  be  an  efficient  one  in  spreading  appreciation  of  Shandy. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  after  the  review  in  the  Ham- 
hurgischer  impartheyischer  Correspondent,  which  has  been 
cited,  the  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gelehrten  Sachen  in  the 
number  dated  March  i,  1765,  treats  Sterne's  masterpiece  in  its 
German  disguise.  This  is  the  first  mention  of  Sterne's  book 
in  the  distinctively  literary  journals.  The  tone  of  this  review 
is  further  that  of  an  introducer  of  the  new,  and  the  critique  is 
manifestly  inserted  in  the  paper  as  an  account  of  a  new  book. 
The  reviewer  is  evidently  unaware  of  the  author's  name,  since 
the  words  which  accompany  the  title,  from  the  English,  are 
nowhere  elucidated,  and  no  hint  of  authorship,  or  popularity 
in  England,  or  possible  far-reaching  appeal  in  Germany  is 
traceable.  The  idea  of  the  hobby-horse  is  new  to  the  reviewer 
and  his  explanation  of  it  implies  that  he  presumed  Sterne's  use 
of  the  term  would  be  equally  novel  to  the  readers  of  the  period- 
ical. His  compliment  to  the  translation  indicates  further  that 
he  was  unacquainted  with  the  review  in  the  Hamhiirgischer 
unpartheyischer  Correspondent. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  later,  June  13,  1766,  this  same 
journal,  under  the  caption  "London,"  reviews  the  Becket  and 
de  Hondt  four-volume  edition  of  the  "Sermons  of  J\Ir. 
Yorick."  The  critic  thinks  a  warning  necessary:  "One 
should  not  be  deceived  by  the  title :  the  author's  name  is  not 
Yorick,"  and  then  he  adds  the  information  of  the  real  author- 
ship. This  is  a  valid  indication  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  re- 
viewer, the  name  Yorick  would  not  be  sufficiently  linked  in 
the  reader's  mind  with  the  personality  of  Sterne  and  the  fame 
of  his  first  great  book,  to  preclude  the  possibility,  or  rather 
probability,  of  error.  This  state  of  afifairs  is  hardly  reconcil- 
able with  any  widespread  knowledge  of  the  first  volumes  of 
Shandy.  The  criticism  of  the  sermons  which  follows  implies, 
on  the  reviewer's  part,  an  acquaintance  with  Sterne,  with  Tris- 
tram, a  "whimsical  and  roguish  novel  which  would  in  our  land 


19 

be  but  little  credit  to  a  clergyman,"  and  with  the  hobby-horse 
idea.  The  spirit  of  the  review  is,  however,  quite  possibly 
prompted,  and  this  added  information  supplied,  by  the  London 
correspondent,  and  retold  only  with  a  savor  of  familiarity  by 
this  critic;  for  at  the  end  of  this  communication  this  London 
correspondent  is  credited  with  the  suggestion  that  quite  prob- 
ably the  sermons  were  never  actually  preached. 

The  first  mention  of  Sterne  in  the  Gottingische  Gelehrte  An- 
seigen  is  in  the  number  for  November  15,  1764.  In  the  report 
from  London  is  a  review^  of  the  fifth  edition  of  Yorick's  Ser- 
mons, published  by  Dodsley  in  two  volumes,  1764.  To  judge 
by  the  tenor  of  his  brief  appreciation,  the  reviewer  does  not 
anticipate  any  knowledge  of  Sterne  whatsoever  or  of  Shandy 
among  the  readers  of  the  periodical.  He  states  that  the  ser- 
mons had  aroused  much  interest  in  England  because  of  their 
authorship  "by  Lorenz  Sterne,  author  of  Tristram  Shandy,  a 
book  in  which  a  remarkable  humor  is  exhibited."  He  men- 
tions also  that  the  sermon  on  the  conscience  had  already  been 
published  in  the  novel,  but  is  ignorant  of  its  former  and  first 
appearance.  Three  years  later,  July  20,  1767,-  the  same  peri- 
odical devotes  a  long  critical  review  to  the  four-volume  Lon- 
don edition  of  the  sermons.  The  publisher's  name  is  not 
given,  but  it  is  the  issue  of  Becket  and  de  Hondt.  The  re- 
stating of  elementary  information  concerning  authorship  is 
indicative  of  the  tardy  progress  made  by  Yorick  in  these  years 
in  gaining  recognition  in  Germany.  The  reviewer  thinks  it 
even  necessary  to  add  that  Yorick  is  the  name  of  the  clergyman 
who  plays  a  waggish  (possierliche)  role  in  Shandy,  and  that 
Sterne  cherished  the  opinion  that  this  designation  on  the  title- 
page  would  be  better  known  than  his  own  name. 

In  the  meantime  Swiss  piety  and  Swiss  devotion  to  things 
English  had  been  instrumental  in  bringing  out  a  translation  of 
Sterne's  sermons,^  the  first  volume  of  which  appeared  in  1766. 

^  In  this  review  and  in  the  announcement  of  Sterne's  death,  this  periodical 
refers  to  him  as  the  Dean  of  York,  a  distinction  which  Sterne  never  enjoyed. 

^  1767,  p.  691.  The  reference  is  given  in  the  Register  to  1753-1782  erroneously 
as  p.  791. 

^  "Predigten  von  Laurenz  Sterne  oder  Yorick."  Zurich,  bey  Fuesslin  &  Comp, 
1766-69.     3  vols. 


20 

The  Swiss  translation  was  occasioned  by  its  author's  expecta- 
tion of  interest  in  the  sermons  as  sermons ;  this  is  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  motives  which  led  to  their  original  publication  in 
England.  The  brief  preface  of  the  translator  gives  no  infor- 
mation of  Sterne,  or  of  Shandy;  the  translator  states  his  rea- 
sons for  the  rendering,  his  own  interest  in  the  discourses,  his 
belief  that  such  sermons  would  not  be  superfluous  in  Germany, 
and  his  opinion  that  they  were  written  for  an  increasing  class 
of  readers,  "who,  though  possessed  of  taste  and  culture  and 
laying  claim  to  probity,  yet  for  various  reasons  stand  apart 
from  moral  instruction  and  religious  observance."  He  also 
changed  the  original  order  of  the  sermons.  The  first  part  of 
this  Swiss  translation  is  reviewed  in  the  Allgemeine  deutsche 
Bihliothck  in  the  first  number  of  1768,  and  hence  before  the 
Sentimental  Journey  had  seen  the  light  even  in  London.  The 
review  is  characterized  by  unstinted  praise :  Sterne  is  congrat- 
ulated upon  his  deviation  from  the  conventional  in  homiletical 
discourse,  is  commended  as  an  excellent  painter  of  moral  char- 
acter and  situations,  though  he  abstains  from  the  use  of  the 
common  engines  of  eloquence.  His  narrative  powers  are  also 
noted  with  approval  and  his  ability  to  retain  the  attention  of 
his  hearers  through  clever  choice  of  emphasized  detail  is  men- 
tioned with  appreciation.  Yet  in  all  this  no  reference  is  made 
to  Sterne's  position  in  English  letters,  a  fact  which  could 
hardly  have  failed  of  comment,  if  the  reviewer  had  been  aware 
of  it,  especially  in  view  of  the  relation  of  Sterne's  popularity  to 
the  very  existence  of  this  published  volume  of  sermons,  or  if  it 
had  been  expected  that  the  fact  of  authorship  would  awaken 
interest  in  any  considerable  number  of  readers.  The  tone  of 
the  review  is  further  hardly  reconcilable  with  a  knowledge  of 
Sterne's  idiosyncrasies  as  displayed  in  Shandy.  A  brief  con- 
sideration of  the  principles  of  book-reviewing  would  establish 
the  fact  indisputably  that  the  mentioning  of  a  former  book, 
some  hint  of  familiarity  with  the  author  by  open  or  covert 
allusion,  is  an  integral  and  inevitable  part  of  the  review  of  a 
later  book.     This  review  is  the  only  mention  of  Sterne  in  this 


21 

magazine^  before  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental  Journey. 
A  comparison  of  this  recension,  narrow  in  outlook,  bound,  as 
it  is,  to  the  very  book  under  consideration,  with  those  of  the 
second  and  third  volumes  of  the  sermons  in  the  same  maga- 
zine during  the  year  1770,^  is  an  illuminating  illustration  of 
the  sweeping  change  brought  in  by  the  Journey.  In  the  latter 
critique  we  find  appreciation  of  Yorick's  characteristics,  en- 
thusiastic acceptation  of  his  sentiment,  fond  and  familiar 
allusions  to  both  Shandy  and  the  Sentimental  Journey.  In  the 
brief  space  of  two  years  Sterne's  sentimentalism  had  come 
into  its  own. 

The  Bremisches  Magasin,^  which  was  employed  largely  in 
publishing  translations  from  English  periodicals,  and  con- 
tained in  each  number  lists,  generally  much  belated,  of  new 
English  books,  noted  in  the  third  number  for  1762,  among  the 
new  books  from  April  to  December,  1760,  Mr.  Yorick's  Ser- 
mons, published  by  Mr.  Sterne,  and  then,  as  customary  in 
these  catalogues,  translated  the  title  into  "Herrn  Yorick's 
Predigten  ans  Licht  gestellt  von  Hn.  Sterne."  Four  years 
later,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Neties  Bremisches  Mao-aciii,'^ 
announcement  is  made  of  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of 
Yorick's  Sermons.  During  this  period  sufficient  intelligence 
concerning  Sterne  is  current  to  warrant  the  additional  state- 
ment that  "This  Mr.  Sterne,  the  author  of  the  strange  book, 
Tristram  Shandy,  is  the  author  himself."  The  notice  closes 
with  the  naive  but  astounding  information,  "He  took  the  name 
Yorick  because  he  is  a  preacher  in  York;  furthermore,  these 
sermons  are  much  praised."  No  further  proof  is  needed  that 
this  reviewer  was  guiltless  of  any  knowledge  of  Shandy  be- 
yond the  title.  The  ninth  volume  of  Shandy  is  announced  in 
the  same  number  among  the  new  English  books. 

In  1767,  the  year  before  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental 
Journey,  we  find  three  notices  of  Tristram  Shandy.  In  the 
Deutsche  Bibliothek  dcr  schonen   Wissenschaften^  is  a  very 

^  The  Allgcmeine  deutsche  Bibliothek   was   founded   in    1765. 
^  XII,   I,  pp.  210-21 1  and  2,  p.   202. 
'  For  full  title  see  Bibliography. 
*■  Vol.  I,  p.  460. 

°  Edited  by  Klotz  and  founded  in  1767,  published  at  Halle  by  J.  J.  Gebauer. 
Vol.   I,  Part  2,  p.   183. 


22 

brief  but,  in  the  main,  commendatory  review  of  the  Ziickert 
translation,  coupled  with  the  statement  that  the  last  parts  are 
not  by  Sterne,  but  with  the  claim  that  the  humor  of  the  original 
is  fairly  well  maintained.  The  review  is  signed  "Dtsh."  An- 
other Halle  periodical,  the  HaUische  Neite  Gelehrte  Zeitun- 
geii,  in  the  issue  for  August  lo,  1767^  reviews  the  same  vol- 
umes with  a  much  more  decided  acknowledgment  of  merit. 
It  is  claimed  that  the  difference  is  not  noticeable,  and  that  the 
ninth  part  is  almost  more  droll  than  all  the  others,  an  opinion 
which  is  noteworthy  testimony  to  its  originator's  utter  lack  of 
comprehension  of  the  whole  work  and  of  the  inanity  of  this 
spurious  last  volume.  The  statement  by  both  of  these  papers 
that  the  last  three  volumes,-  parts  VII,  VIII  and  IX,  of  the 
Ziickert  translation,  rest  on  spurious  English  originals,  is,  of 
course,  false  as  far  as  VII  and  VIII  are  concerned,  and  is  true 
only  of  IX. 

In  the  Neue  Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften,  the  last 
number  for  1766^  contains  the  first  mention  of  Sterne's  name 
in  this  representative  literary  periodical.  It  is  an  article  en- 
titled "Ueber  die  Laune,"'^  which  is  concerned  with  the  phe- 
nomena of  hypochrondia  and  melancholia,  considered  as  ill- 
nesses, and  their  possible  cure.  The  author  claims  to  have 
found  a  remedy  in  the  books  which  do  not  depress  the  spirits 
with  exhibition  of  human  woes,  but  which  make  merry  over 
life's  follies.  In  this  he  claims  merely  to  be  following  the 
advice  of  St.  Evremond  to  the  Count  of  Olonne.  His  method 
he  further  explains  by  tracing  humor  to  its  beginnings  in 
Aristophanes  and  by  following  its  development  through  Latin, 
new  Latin  (Erasmus,  Thomas  Morus,  etc.),  French  and  Eng- 
lish writers.  Among  the  latter  Sterne  is  named.  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  present  purpose,  the  author  is  led  by  caution  and 
fear  of  giving  the  offense  of  omission  to  refrain  from  naming 
the  German  writers  who  might  be  classed  with  the  cited  repre- 
sentatives of  humor.     In  closing,  he  recommends  heartily  to 

^  Vol.  II,  p.  500. 

2  The  former  says  merely  "the  last  parts",  the  latter  designates  "the  last  three." 
'Ill,  I,  pp.   I  ff. 

*  This  article  is  not  to  be  confused  with  Garve's  well-known  article  published  in 
the  same  magazine,  LXI,  pp.  51-77  (1798). 


23 

those  teased  with  melancholy  a  "portion  of  leaves  of  Lucian, 
some  half-ounces  of  'Don  Quixote'  or  some  drachms  of  'Tom 
Jones'  or  'Tristram  Shandy.'  "  Under  the  heading,  "New 
English  Books,"  in  the  third  number  of  the  same  periodical  for 
1767,  is  a  brief  but  significant  notice  of  the  ninth  volume  of 
Tristram  Shandy.^  "The  ninth  part  of  the  well-known  'Life 
of  Tristram  Shandy'  has  been  published ;  we  would  not  mention 
it,  if  we  did  not  desire  on  this  occasion  to  note  at  least  once  in 
our  magazine  a  book  which  is  incontestably  the  strangest  pro- 
duction of  wit  and  humor  which  has  ever  been  brought  forth. 
.  .  .  The  author  of  this  original  book  is  a  clergyman  by  the 
name  of  Sterne,  who,  under  his  Harlequin's  name,  Yorick, 
has  given  to  the  world  the  most  excellent  sermons."  The  re- 
view contains  also  a  brief  word  of  comparison  with  Rabelais 
and  a  quotation  from  an  English  critic  expressing  regret  at 
Yorick's  embroidering  "the  choicest  flowers  of  genius  on  a 
paultry  groundwork  of  buffoonry."^  This  late  mention  of 
Sterne's  great  novel,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  made  are  not 
without  their  suggestions  as  to  the  attitude  even  of  the  German 
literary  world  toward  Yorick.  The  notice  is  written  in  a  tone 
of  forced  condescension.  The  writer  is  evidently  compelled, 
as  representative  of  British  literary  interests,  to  bear  witness 
to  the  Shandy  craze,  but  the  attitude  of  the  review  is  plainly  in- 
dicative of  its  author's  disbelief  in  any  occasion  for  especial 
concern  about  Yorick  in  Germany.  Sterne  himself  is  men- 
tioned as  a  fitful  whim  of  British  taste,  and  a  German  devotion 
to  him  is  beyond  the  flight  of  fancy. ^ 

Individual  authors,  aware  of  international  literary  condi- 
tions, the  inner  circle  of  German  culture,  became  acquainted 

1  IV,  St.  2,  pp.  376-7- 

-  This  is  from  the  February  number,  1767,  of  the  Monthly  Review.  (Vol. 
XXXVI,  p.  102.) 

^  The  seventh  and  eighth  volumes  of  Shandy,  English  edition,  arc  reviewed  in 
the  first  number  of  a  short-lived  Frankfurt  periodical,  Neue  Aussiige  aus  den  besten 
atislandischen  Wochen  und  Monatsschriften,  1765.  Unterhaltungen,  a  magazine 
published  at  Hamburg  and  dealing  largely  with  English  interests,  notes  the 
London  publication  of  the  spurious  ninth  volume  of  Shandy  (Vol.  II,  p.  152, 
August,  1766).  Die  Brittische  Bibliothek,  another  magazine  consisting  principally  of 
English  reprints  and  literary  news,  makes  no  mention  of  Sterne  up  to  1767.  Then 
in  a  catalogue  of  English  books  sold  by  Casper  Fritsch  in  Leipzig,  Shandy  is 
given,  but  without  the  name  of  the  author.  There  is  an  account  of  Sterne's  ser- 
mons in  the  Neue  Hamburgische  Zeitung,  April,   1768. 


24 

with  Tristram  Shandy  during  this  period  before  the  publication 
of  the  Sentimental  Journey  and  learned  to  esteem  the  eccentric 
parson.  Bode's  possible  acquaintance  with  the  English  orig- 
inal previous  to  1764  has  been  already  noted.  Lessing's  ad- 
miration for  Sterne  naturally  is  associated  with  his  two  state- 
ments of  remarkable  devotion  to  Yorick,  both  of  which,  how- 
ever, date  from  a  period  when  he  had  already  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  Journey.  At  precisely  what  time  Lessing 
first  read  Tristram  Shandy  it  is  impossible  to  determine  with 
accuracy.  Moses  Mendelssohn  writes  to  him  in  the  summer 
of  1763  ■}  "Tristram  Shandy  is  a  work  of  masterly  originality. 
At  present,  to  be  sure,  I  have  read  only  the  first  two  volumes. 
In  the  beginning  the  book  vexed  me  exceedingly.  I  rambled 
on  from  digression  to  digression  without  grasping  the  real 
humor  of  the  author.  I  regarded  him  as  a  man  like  our 
Liscow,  whom,  as  you  know,  I  don't  particularly  fancy ;  and 
yet  the  book  pleases  Lessing!"  This  is  sufficient  proof  that 
Mendelssohn  first  read  Shandy  early  in  1763,  but,  though  not 
improbable,  it  is  yet  rather  hazardous  to  conclude  that  Lessing 
also  had  read  the  book  shortly  before,  and  had  just  recom- 
mended it  to  his  friend.  The  literary  friendship  existing  be- 
tween them,  and  the  general  nature  of  their  literary  relations 
and  communications,  would  rather  favor  such  a  hypothesis. 
The  passage  is,  however,  a  significant  confession  of  partial 
failure  on  the  part  of  the  clever  and  erudite  Mendelssohn  to 
appreciate  Sterne's  humor.  It  has  been  generally  accepted 
that  Lessing's  dramatic  fragment,  "Die  Witzlinge,"  included 
two  characters  modeled  confessedly  after  Yorick's  familiar 
personages.  Trim  and  Eugenius.  Boxberger  and  others  have 
stamped  such  a  theory  with  their  authority.-  If  this  were 
true,  "Die  Witzlinge"  would  undoubtedly  be  the  first  example 

^  Mendelssohn's  Schriften,  edited  by  Prof.  Dr.  G.  B.  Mendelssohn.  Leipzig, 
Brockhaus,   1844.     Vol.  V,  p.   171. 

-  Kiirschner  edition  of  Lessing's  works,  III,  2,  pp.  : 56-1 57.  See  also  "Lessing 
imd  die  Englander"  by  Josef  Caro  in  Eupliorion,  VI,  pp.  489  ff.  Erich  Schmidt 
made  the  statement  in  his  life  of  Lessing  in  the  edition  of  1884,  but  corrected  it 
later,  in  the  edition  of  1899,  probably  depending  on  parallel  passages  drawn  from 
Paul  Albrecht's  "Lessing's  Plagiate"  (Hamburg  and  Leipzig,  1888-1891),  an  extraor- 
dinary work  which  by  its  frequent  absurdity  and  its  viciousness  of  attack  forfeits 
credence  in  its  occasional  genuine  discoveries. 


25 

of  Sterne's  influence  working  directly  upon  the  literary  activ- 
ity of  a  German  author.  The  fragment  has,  however,  nothing 
to  do  with  Tristram  Shandy,  and  a  curious  error  has  here  crept 
in  through  the  remarkable  juxtaposition  of  names  later  asso- 
ciated with  Sterne.  The  plan  is  really  derived  directly  from 
Shadwell's  "Bury  Fair"  with  its  "Mr.  Trim"  fancifully  styled 
"Eugenius."  Those  who  tried  to  establish  the  connection 
could  hardly  have  been  familiar  with  Tristram  Shandy,  for 
Lessing's  Trim  as  outlined  in  the  sketch  has  nothing  in  common 
with  the  Corporal. 

Erich  Schmidt,  building  on  a  suggestion  of  Lichtenstein, 
found  a  "Dosis  Yorikscher  Empfindsamkeit"^  in  Tellheim,  and 
connected  the  episode  of  the  Chevalier  de  St.  Louis  with  the 
passage  in  "Minna  von  Barnhelm"  (II,  2)  in  which  Minna  con- 
tends with  the  innkeeper  that  the  king  cannot  know  all  deserv- 
ing men  nor  reward  them.  Such  an  identity  of  sentiment  must 
be  a  pure  coincidence  for  "Minna  von  Barnhelm"  was  pub- 
lished at  Easter,  1767,  nearly  a  year  before  the  Sentimental 
Journey  appeared. 

A  connection  between  Corporal  Trim  and  Just  has  been 
suggested,^  but  no  one  has  by  investigation  established  such  a 
kinship.  Both  servants  are  patterns  of  old-fashioned  fidelity, 
types  of  unquestioning  service  on  the  part  of  the  inferior,  a  re- 
lation which  existed  between  Orlando  and  Adam  in  "As  You 
Like  It,"  and  which  the  former  describes : 

"O  good  old  man,  how  well  in  thee  appears 
The  constant  service  of  the  antique  world, 
When  service  sweat  for  duty,  not  for  meed ; 
Thou  art  not  for  the  fashion  of  these  times." 

Tellheim  recognizes  the  value  of  Just's  service,  and  honors  his 
subordinate  for  his  unusual  faithfulness ;  yet  there  exists  here 
no  such  cordial  comradeship  as  marked  the  relation  betv.een 
Sterne's  originals.  Btit  one  may  discern  the  occasion  of  this 
in  the  character  of  Tellheim,  who  has  no  resemblance  to  Uncle 
Toby,  rather  than  in  any  dissimilarity  between  the  characters 
of  the  servants.     The  use  of  the  relation  between  master  and 

'  Lessing.     "Geschichte    seines   Lebens    und    seiner    Schriften."      Berlin,    1884,    I, 
pp.    174,   465.     Tliis  is  omitted  in   the   latest  edition. 

*  Perry   (Thomas  Sargeant)    "From  Opitz  to   Lessing."     Boston,   1885,  p.   162. 


26 

man  as  a  subject  for  literary  treatment  was  probably  first 
brought  into  fashion  by  Don  Quixote,  and  it  is  well-nigh  cer- 
tain that  Sterne  took  his  cue  from  Cervantes. 

According  to  Erich  Schmidt,  the  episode  of  Just's  dog,  as  the 
servant  relates  it  in  the  8th  scene  of  the  ist  act,  could  have 
adorned  the  Sentimental  Journey,  but  the  similarity  of  motif 
here  in  the  treatment  of  animal  fidelity  is  pure  coincidence. 
Certainly  the  method  of  using  the  episode  is  not  reminiscent  of 
any  similar  scene  in  Sterne.  Just's  dog  is  not  introduced  for  its 
own  sake,  nor  like  the  ass  at  Nampont  to  afford  opportunity  for 
exciting  humanitarian  impulses,  and  for  throwing  human  char- 
acter into  relief  by  confronting  it  with  sentimental  possibilities, 
but  for  the  sake  of  a  forceful,  telling  and  immediate  compar- 
ison. Lessing  was  too  original  a  mind,  and  at  the  time  when 
"Minna"  was  written,  too  complete  and  mature  an  artist  to  fol- 
low another  slavishly  or  obviously,  except  avowedly  under  cer- 
tain conditions  and  with  particular  purpose.  He  himself  is  said 
to  have  remarked,  "That  must  be  a  pitiful  author  who  does  not 
borrow  something  once  in  a  while,"^  and  it  does  not  seem  im- 
probable that  the  figure  of  Trim  was  hovering  in  his  memory 
while  he  was  creating  his  Just.  Especially  does  this  seem 
plausible  when  we  remember  that  Lessing  wrote  his  drama 
during  the  years  when  Shandy  was  appearing,  when  he  must 
have  been  occupied  with  it,  and  at  the  first  flush  of  his  admira- 
tion. 

This  supposition,  however  undemonstrable,  is  given  some 
support  by  our  knowledge  of  a  minor  work  of  Lessing,  which 
has  been  lost.  On  December  28,  1769,  Lessing  writes  to 
Ebert  from  Hamburg:  "Alberti  is  well;  and  what  pleases  me 
about  him,  as  much  as  his  health,  is  that  the  news  of  his  recon- 
ciliation with  Goeze  was  a  false  report.  So  Yorick  will  prob- 
ably preach  and  send  his  sermon  soon."^  And  Ebert  replies  in 
a  letter  dated  at  Braunschweig,  January  7,  1770,  expressing  a 
desire  that  Lessing  should  fulfil  his  promise,  and  cause  Yorick 
to  preach  not  once  but  many  times.^     The  circumstance  herein 

^Quoted  by  Lichtenberg  in  "Gottingischer  Taschenkalender,"  1796,  p.  191. 
"Vermischte  Schriften,"  VI,  p.  487. 

-  Lachmann   edition,   Berlin,    1840.     Vol.    XII,   p.   240. 
^  XIII,  pp.   209-10. 


27 

involved  was  first  explained  by  Friedrich  Nicolai  in  an  article 
in  the  Berlinische  Monatsschrift,  1791.'  As  a  trick  upon  his 
friend  Alberti,  who  was  then  in  controversy  with  Goeze,  Les- 
sing  wrote  a  sermon  in  Yorick's  manner ;  the  title  and  part  of 
the  introduction  to  it  were  privately  printed  by  Bode  and  passed 
about  among  the  circle  of  friends,  as  if  the  whole  were  in  press. 
We  are  entirely  dependent  on  Nicolai's  memory  for  our  infor- 
mation relative  to  this  sole  endeavor  on  Lessing's  part  to  adopt 
completely  the  manner  of  Sterne.  Nicolai  asserts  that  this 
effort  was  a  complete  success  in  the  realization  of  Yorick's  sim- 
plicity, his  good-natured  but  acute  philosophy,  his  kindly 
sympathy  and  tolerance,  even  his  merry  whimsicality. 

This  introduction,  which  Nicolai  claims  to  have  recalled  es- 
sentially as  Lessing  wrote  it,  relates  the  occasion  of  Yorick's 
writing  the  sermon.  Uncle  Toby  and  Trim  meet  a  cripple  in 
a  ragged  French  uniform;  Capt.  Shandy  gives  the  unfortu- 
nate man  several  shillings,  and  Trim  draws  out  a  penny  and 
in  giving  it  says,  "French  Dog !"     The  narrative  continues : 

"The  Captain-  was  silent  for  some  seconds  and  then  said, 
turning  to  Trim,  Tt  is  a  man.  Trim,  and  not  a  dog!'  The 
French  veteran  had  hobbled  after  them :  at  the  Captain's  words 
Trim  gave  him  another  penny,  saying  again  'French  Dog!' 
'And,  Trim,  the  man  is  a  soldier.'  Trim  stared  him  in  the  face, 
gave  him  a  penny  again  and  said,  'French  Dog !'  'And,  Trim, 
he  is  a  brave  soldier ;  you  see  he  has  fought  for  his  fatherland 
and  has  been  sorely  wounded.'  Trim  pressed  his  hand,  while 
he  gave  him  another  penny,  and  said  'French  Dog!'  'And, 
Trim,  this  soldier  is  a  good  but  unfortunate  husband,  and  has 
a  wife  and  four  little  children.'  Trim,  with  a  tear  in  his  eye, 
gave  all  he  had  left  and  said,  rather  softly,  'French  Dog !'  " 

This  scene  recalls  vividly  the  encounter  between  Just  and 
the  landlord  in  the  first  act  of  "Minna,"  the  passage  in  which 
Just  continues  to  assert  that  the  landlord  is  a  "Grobian." 
There  are  the  same  tactics,  the  same  persistence,  the  same 
contrasts.     The  passage  quoted  was,  of  course,  written  after 

1  XVII,  pp.   30-45.     The  article  is  reprinted  in  the  Hempel  edition  of  Lessing, 

XVII,  pp.  263-71. 

2  Nicolai  uses  the  German  word  for  colonel,  a  title  which  Uncle  Toby  never  bore. 


28 

"Minna,"  but  from  it  we  gather  evidence  that  Corporal  Trim 
and  his  own  Just  were  similar  creations,  that  to  him  Corporal 
Trim,  when  he  had  occasion  to  picture  him,  must  needs  hark 
back  to  the  figure  of  Just,  a  character  which  may  well  orig- 
inally have  been  suggested  by  Capt.  Shandy's  faithful  servant. 
Among  German  literati,  Herder  is  another  representative 
of  acquaintance  with  Sterne  and  appreciation  of  his  master- 
piece. Haym^  implies  that  Sterne  and  Swift  are  mentioned 
more  often  than  any  other  foreign  authors  in  Herder's  writings 
of  the  Riga  period  (November,  1764,  to  May,  1769).  This 
would,  of  course,  include  the  first  fervor  of  enthusiasm  con- 
cerning the  Sentimental  Journey,  and  would  be  a  statement  de- 
cidedly doubtful,  if  applied  exclusively  to  the  previous  years. 
In  a  note-book,  possibly  reaching  back  before  his  arrival  in 
Riga  to  his  student  days  in  Konigsberg,  Herder  made  quota- 
tions from  Shandy  and  Don  Quixote,  possibly  preparatory 
notes  for  his  study  of  the  ridiculous  in  the  Fourth  Waldchen.^ 
In  May,  1766,  Herder  went  to  Mitau  to  visit  Hamann,  and  he 
designates  the  account  of  the  events  since  leaving  there  as  "ein 
Capitel  meines  Shandyschen  Romans"-''  and  sends  it  as  such  to 
my  uncle,  Tobias  Shandy."  Later  a  letter,  written  27-16, 
August,  1766,  is  begun  with  the  heading,  "Herder  to  Hamann 
and  no  more  Yorick  to  Tobias  Shandy,"  in  which  he  says :  "I 
am  now  in  a  condition  where  I  can  play  the  part  of  Yorick  as 
little  as  Panza  that  of  Governor."*  The  same  letter  contains 
another  reference  and  the  following  familiar  allusion  to  Sterne: 
"Griisen  Sie  Trim,  wenn  ich  gegen  keinen  den  beleidigenden 
Karakter  Yoriks  oder  leider !  das  Schicksal  wider  Willen  zu 
beleidigen,  habe,  so  ist's  doch  gegen  ihn  und  Hartknoch." 
These  last  quotations  are  significant  as  giving  proof  that 
Shandy  had  so  far  forced  its  claims  upon  a  little  set  of  book- 
lovers  in  the  remote  east.  Herder,  Hamann  and  a  few  others, 
that  they  gave  one  another  in  play  names  from  the  English 
novel.     A  letter  from  Hamann  to  Herder,  dated  Konigsberg, 

^  R.  Haym.     "Herder  nach  seinem  Leben  und  seinen  Werken."     I,  p.  413. 
^  Haym,   I,  p.   261. 

3  Herder's  "Briefe  an  Joh.  Georg  Hamann,"  ed.  by  Otto  Hoffmann,  Berlin,   1889, 
p.  25,  or  "Lebensbild"  II,  p.   140. 
*  "Briefe  an  Hamann,"  p.  27. 


29 

June  lo,  1767,  indicates  that  the  former  shared  also  the  devo- 
tion to  Sterne.^ 

In  the  first  collection  of  "Fragmente  iiber  die  neuere 
deutsche  Litteratur,"  1767,  the  sixth  section  treats  of  the 
"Idiotismen"  of  a  language.  British  "Laune"  is  cited  as  such 
an  untranslatable  "Idiotism"  and  the  lack  of  German  humor- 
ists is  noted,  and  Swift  is  noted  particularly  as  an  English 
example.  In  the  second  and  revised  edition  Herder  adds 
material  containing  allusion  to  Hudibras  and  Tristram. - 
The  first  and  second  "Kritische  Waldchen"  contain  several 
references  to  Sterne  and  Shandy.^  Herder,  curiously  enough, 
did  not  read  the  Sentimental  Journey  until  the  autumn  of 
1768,  as  is  disclosed  in  a  letter  to  Hamann  written  in  Novem- 
ber.* which  also  shows  his  appreciation  of  Sterne.  "An 
Sterne's  Laune,"  he  says,  "kann  ich  mich  nicht  satt  lesen. 
Eben  den  Augenblick,  da  ich  an  ihn  denke,  bekomme  ich  seine 
Sentimental  Journey  zum  Durchlesen,  und  wenn  nicht  meine 
Englische  Sprachwissenschaft  scheitert,  wie  angenehm  werde 
ich  mit  ihm  reisen.  Ich  bin  an  seine  Sentiments  zum  Theil 
schon  go  gewohnt,  sie  bis  in  das  weiche  innere  Mark  seiner 
Menschheit  in  ihren  zarten  Faden  zu  verfolgen :  dass  ich 
glaube  seinen  Tristram  etwas  mehr  zu  verstehn  als  the  com- 
mon people.  Nur  um  so  mehr  argern  mich  auch  seine  ver- 
fluchten  Sauereien  und  Zweideutigkeiten,  die  das  Buch  weni- 
gerer  Empfehlung  fahig  machen  als  es  verdient."  We  learn 
from  the  same  letter  that  Herder  possessed  the  sermons  of 
Yorick  in  the  Zurich  translation.  Herder's  own  homiletical 
style  during  this  period,  as  evinced  by  the  sermons  preserved 
to  us,  betrays  no  trace  of  Sterne's  influence. 

Riedel,  in  his  "Theorie  der  schonen  Kiinste  und  Wissen- 
schaften,"^  shows  appreciation  of  Shandy  complete  and  dis- 

1  Lebensbild  II  (I,  2),  p.  256;  also  in  Hamann's  Schriften,  ed.  by  Roth.  Ber- 
lin, 1822,  III,  p.  372.  Hamann  asks  Herder  to  remind  his  publisher,  when  the 
latter  sends  the  promised  third  part  of  the  "Fragmente,"  to  inclose  without  fail  the 
engraving  of  Sterne,  because  the  latter  is  absolutely  essential  to  his  furnishings. 

^  See  Suphan  I,  p.   163;   II,  p.   46. 

'  Suphan  III,  pp.  170,  223,  233,  277,  307. 

*  Briefe  an  Hamann,  p.   49. 

"  ....  in  Auzug  aus  den  Werken  verschiedener  Schriftsteller  von  Friedrich 
Just  Riedel,  Jena,  1767.     The  chapter  cited  is  pp.  137  ff. 


30 

criminating,  previous  to  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental 
Journey.  This  book  is  a  sort  of  compendium,  a  series  of 
rather  disconnected  chapters,  woven  together  out  of  quota- 
tions from  aesthetic  critics,  examples  and  comment.  In  the 
chapter  on  Similarity  and  Contrast  he  contends  that  a  satirist 
only  may  transgress  the  rule  he  has  just  enunciated:  "When 
a  perfect  similarity  fails  of  its  effect,  a  too  far-fetched,  a  too 
ingenious  one,  is  even  less  effective,"  and  in  this  connection  he 
quotes  from  Tristram  Shandy  a  passage  describing  the  acci- 
dent to  Dr.  Slop  and  Obadiah.^  Riedel  translates  the  passage 
himself.  The  chapter  "Ueber  die  Laune"-  contains  two  more 
references  to  Shandy.  In  a  volume  dated  1768  and  entitled 
"Ueber  das  Publikum :  Briefe  an  einige  Glieder  desselben," 
written  evidently  without  knowledge  of  the  Journey,  Riedel 
indicates  the  position  which  Shandy  had  in  these  years  won  for 
itself  among  a  select  class.  Riedel  calls  it  a  contribution  to 
the  "Register"  of  the  human  heart  and  states  that  he  knows 
people  who  claim  to  have  learned  more  psychology  from  this 
novel  than  from  many  thick  volumes  in  which  the  authors  had 
first  killed  sentiment  in  order  then  to  dissect  it  at  leisure.^ 

Early  in  1763,  one  finds  an  appreciative  knowledge  of 
Shandy  as  a  possession  of  a  group  of  Swiss  literati,  but  prob- 
ably confined  to  a  coterie  of  intellectual  aristocrats  and  novelty- 
seekers.  Julie  Von  Bondeli*  writes  to  Usteri  from  Koenitz  on 
March  10,  1763,  that  Kirchberger^  will  be  able  to  get  him  the 
opportunity  to  read  Tristram  Shandy  as  a  whole,  that  she  her- 
self has  read  two  volumes  with  surprise,  emotion  and  almost 
constant  bursts  of  laughter ;  she  goes  on  to  say :  "II  voudrait 
la  peine  d'apprendre  I'anglais  ne  fut-ce  que  pour  lire  cet  im- 
payable  livre,  dont  la  verite  et  le  genie  se  fait  sentir  a  chaque 

^  I,  p.  106. 

'Pp.  91-96;  see  also  p.  331. 

^  Pp.  118-120,  or  Sammtliche  Schriften,  Wien,  1787,  4ter  Th.,  4ter  Bd.,  p.  133. 
A  review  with  quotation  of  this  criticism  of  Shandy  is  found  in  the  Deutsche  Bib- 
liothek  der  schonen  Wissenscliaften,  II,  p.  659,  but  after  the  publication  of  the 
Mittelstedt  translation  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  had  been  reviewed  in  the  same 
periodical. 

*  See  "Julie  von  Bondeli  und  ihr  Freundeskreis,"  von  Eduard  Bodemann.  Han- 
nover,  1874. 

^  Nicholas  Ant.  Kirchberger,  the  Swiss  statesman  and  philosopher,  the  friend 
of  Rousseau. 


31 

ligne  au  travers  de  la  plus  originelle  plaisanterie."  Zinimer- 
mann  was  a  resident  of  Brugg,  1754- 1768,  and  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  Fraulein  von  Bondeli.  It  may  be  that  this  later  en- 
thusiastic admirer  of  Sterne  became  acquainted  with  Shandy  at 
this  time  through  Fraulein  von  Bondeli,  but  their  correspond- 
ence, covering  the  years  1761-1775,  does  not  disclose  it. 

Dr.  Carl  Behmer,  who  has  devoted  an  entire  monograph  to 
the  study  of  Wieland's  connection  with  Sterne,  is  of  the  opin- 
ion, and  his  proofs  seem  conclusive,  that  Wieland  did  not  know 
Shandy  before  the  autumn  of  1767,^  that  is,  only  a  few  months 
before  the  publication  of  the  Journey.      But  his   enthusiasm 
was    immediate.     The    first    evidence    of    acquaintance    with 
Sterne,  a  letter  to  Zimmermann  (November  13,  1767),-  is  full 
of  extravagant  terms   of  admiration  and   devotion.     One   is 
naturally    reminded    of    his    similar    extravagant    expressions 
with  reference  to  the  undying  worth  of  Richardson's  novels. 
Sterne's  life  philosophy  fitted  in  with  Wieland's  second  literary 
period,  the  frivolous,  sensuous,  epicurean,  even  as  the  moral 
meanderings  of  Richardson  agreed  with  his  former  serious, 
religious    attitude.     Probably    soon    after    or    while    reading 
Shandy,  Wieland  conceived  the  idea  of  translating  it.     The 
letter  which  contains  this  very  first  mention  of   Sterne  also 
records  Wieland's  regret  that  the  Germans  can  read  this  in- 
comparable original  only  in  so  wretched  a  translation,  which 
implies  a  contemporary  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Ziickert's  ren- 
dering.    This  regret  may  well  have  been  the  foundation  of 
his  own  purpose  of  translating  the  book;  and  knowledge  of 
this  seems  to  have  been  pretty  general  among  German  men 
of  letters  at  the  time.     Though  the  account  of  this  purpose 
would  bring  us  into  a  time  when  the  Sentimental  Journey  was 
in  every  hand,  it  may  be  as  well  to  complete  what  we  have  to 
say  of  it  here. 

His  reason  for  abandoning  the  idea,  and  the  amount  of  work 
done,  the  length  of  time  he  spent  upon  the  project,  cannot  be 
determined  from  his  correspondence  and  must,  as  Behmer  im- 
plies, be  left  in  doubt.     But  several  facts,  which  Behmer  does 

1  Behmer,   "Laurence    Sterne  und  C.  M.  Wieland,"  pp.  15-17- 
»  "Ausgewiihlte  Briefe,"  Bd.  II,  p.  285  f.     Zurich,  1815. 


32 

not  note,  remarks  of  his  own  and  of  his  contemporaries,  point 
to  more  than  an  undefined  general  purpose  on  his  part ;  it  is 
not  improbable  that  considerable  work  was  done.  Wieland 
says  incidentally  in  his  Tentschcr  Mcrkur,^  in  a  review  of  the 
new  edition  of  Ziickert's  translation :  "Vor  drei  Jahren,  da 
er  (Lange)  mich  bat,  ihm  die  Uebersetzung  des  Tristram  mit 
der  ich  damals  umgieng,  in  Verlag  zu  geben."  Herder  asks 
Nicolai  in  a  letter  dated  Paris,  November  30,  1769,  "What 
is  Wieland  doing,  is  he  far  along  with  his  Shandy?"  And  in 
August,  1769.  in  a  letter  to  Hartknoch,  he  mentions  Wieland's 
Tristram  among  German  books  which  he  longs  to  read.^ 

The  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gclchrten  Sachen^  for  Decem- 
ber 18,  1769,  in  mentioning  this  new  edition  of  Ziickert's  trans- 
lation, states  that  Wieland  has  now  given  up  his  intention,  but 
adds :  "Perhaps  he  will,  however,  write  essays  which  may 
fill  the  place  of  a  philosophical  commentary  upon  the  whole 
book."  That  Wieland  had  any  such  secondary  purpose  is  not 
elsewhere  stated,  but  it  does  not  seem  as  if  the  journal  would 
have  published  such  a  rumor  without  some  foundation  in  fact. 
It  may  be  possibly  a  resurrection  of  his  former  idea  of  a  de- 
fense of  Tristram  as  a  part  of  the  "Litteraturbriefe"  scheme 
which  Riedel  had  proposed.*  This  general  project  having 
failed,  Wieland  may  have  cherished  the  purpose  of  defending 
Tristram  independently  of  the  plan.  Or  this  may  be  a 
reviewer's  vague  memory  of  a  former  rumor  of  plan. 

It  is  worth  noting  incidentally  that  Gellert  does  not  seem  to 
have  known  Sterne  at  all.  His  letters,  for  example,  to  Demoi- 
selle Lucius,  which  begin  October  22,  1760,  and  continue  to 
December  4,  1769,  contain  frequent  refrences  to  other  English 
celebrities,  but  none  to  Sterne. 

The  first  notice  of  Sterne's  death  is  probably  that  in  the 
Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten  of  Hamburg  in  the  issue  of 
April  6,  1768,  not  three  weeks  after  the  event  itself.  The 
brief   announcement   is   a    comparison    with    Cervantes.     The 

1  V,  pp.  345-6.      1774. 
-  See  Lebensbild,  V,  p.    107  and  p.  40. 
^  1769,  p.  840. 

*  See  Behmer,  p.  24,  and  the  letter  to  Riedel,  October  26,  1768,  Ludwig  Wielands 
Briefsammlung.     I,  p.  232. 


33 

Gotfingische  Gelchrte  Anzeigen  chronicles  the  death  of  Yorick, 
August  29,  1768.^ 

Though  published  in  England  from  1759-67,  Tristram 
Shandy  seems  not  to  have  been  reprinted  in  Germany  till  the 
1772  edition  of  Richter  in  Altenburg,  a  year  later  indeed  than 
Richter's  reprint  of  the  Sentimental  Journey.  The  colorless 
and  inaccurate  Ziickert  translation,  as  has  already  been  sug- 
gested, achieved  no  real  popular  success  and  won  no  learned 
recognition.  The  reviews  were  largely  silent  or  indifferent  to 
it,  and,  apart  from  the  comparatively  few  notices  already  cited, 
it  was  not  mentioned  by  any  important  literary  periodical  until 
after  its  republication  by  Lange,  when  the  Sentimental  Journey 
had  set  all  tongues  awag  with  reference  to  the  late  lamented 
Yorick.  None  of  the  journals  indicate  any  appreciation  of 
Sterne's  especial  claim  to  recognition,  nor  see  in  the  father- 
land any  peculiar  receptiveness  to  his  appeal.  In  short,  the 
foregoing  accumulation  of  particulars  resolves  itself  into  the 
general  statement,  easily  derived  from  the  facts  stated : 
Sterne's  position  in  the  German  world  of  letters  is  due  pri- 
marily to  the  Sentimental  Journey.  Without  its  added  im- 
pulse Shandy  would  have  hardly  stirred  the  surface  of  German 
life  and  thought.  The  enthusiasm  even  of  a  few  scholars 
whose  learning  and  appreciation  of  literature  is  international, 
the  occasional  message  of  uncertain  understanding,  of  doubt- 
ful approbation,  or  of  rumored  popularity  in  another  land,  are 
not  sufficient  to  secure  a  general  interest  and  attentiveness, 
much  less  a  literary  following.  The  striking  contrast  between 
the  essential  characteristics  of  the  two  books  is  a  sufficient  and 
wholly  reasonable  occasion  for  Germany's  temporary  indiffer- 
ence to  the  one  and  her  immediate  welcome  for  the  other. 
Shandy  is  whimsicality  touched  with  sentiment.  The  Senti- 
mental Journey  is  the  record  of  a  sentimental  experience, 
guided  by  the  caprice  of  a  whimsical  will.  Whimsicality 
is  a  flower  that  defies  transplanting ;  when  once  rooted  in  other 
soil  it  shoots  up  into  obscurity,  masquerading  as  profundity, 
or  pure  silliness  without  reason  or  a  smile.  The  whimsies  of 
one  language  become  amazing  contortions  in  another.     The 

1  p.  856. 
3 


34 

humor  of  Shandy,  though  deep-dyed  in  Sterne's  own  eccen- 
tricity, is  still  essentially  British  and  demands  for  its  apprecia- 
tion a  more  extensive  knowledge  of  British  life  in  its  narrow- 
est, most  individual  phases,  a  more  intensive  sympathy  with 
British  attitudes  of  mind  than  the  German  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  save  in  rare  instances,  possessed.  Bode  asserts  in 
the  preface  to  his  translation  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  that 
Shandy  had  been  read  by  a  good  many  Germans,  but  follows 
this  remark  with  the  query,  "How  many  have  understod  it?" 
"One  finds  people,"  he  says,  "who  despise  it  as  the  most  non- 
sensical twaddle,  and  cannot  comprehend  how  others,  whom 
they  must  credit  with  a  good  deal  of  understanding,  wit,  and 
learning,  think  quite  otherwise  of  it,"  and  he  closes  by  noting 
the  necessity  that  one  be  acquainted  with  the  follies  of  the 
world,  and  especially  of  the  British  world,  to  appreciate  the 
novel.  He  refers  unquestionably  to  his  own  circle  of  literati 
in  Hamburg,  who  knew  Tristram  and  cared  for  it,  and  to 
others  of  his  acquaintance  less  favored  with  a  knowledge  of 
things  English.  The  Sentimental  Journey  presented  no  in- 
scrutable mystery  of  purposeful  eccentricity  and  perplexing 
personality,  but  was  written  large  in  great  human  characters 
which  he  who  ran  might  read.  And  Germany  was  ready  to 
give  it  a  welcome,^ 

"•  These  two  aspects  of  the  Sterne  cult  in  Germany  will  be  more  fully  treated 
later.  The  historians  of  literature  and  other  investigators  who  have  treated 
Sterne's  influence  in  Germany  have  not  distinguished  very  carefully  the  difference 
between  Sterne's  two  works,  and  the  resulting  difference  between  the  kind  and 
amount  of  their  respective  influences.  Appell,  however,  interprets  the  condition 
correctly  and  assigns  the  cause  with  accuracy  and  pointedness.  ("Werther  und  seine 
Zeit."  p.  246).  The  German  critics  repeat  persistently  the  thought  that  the  imi- 
tators of  Sterne  remained  as  far  away  from  the  originals  as  the  Shakespeare 
followers  from  the  great  Elizabethan.  See  Gervinus,  Geschichte  der  deutschen 
Dichtung,  I,  184;  Hettner,  "Geschichte  der  deutschen  Literatur  im  18.  Jahrhundert,'> 
III,  I,  p.  362;  Hofer,  "Deutsche  Litteraturgeschichte,"  p.  150. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PUBLICATION  OF  THE  SENTIMENTAL 

JOURNEY 

On  February  27,  1768,  the  Sentimental  Journey  was  pub- 
lished in  London/  less  than  three  weeks  before  the  author's 
death,  and  the  book  was  at  once  transplanted  to  German  soil, 
beginning  there  immediately  its  career  of  commanding  influ- 
ence and  wide-spread  popularity. 

Several  causes  operated  together  in  favoring  its  pronounced 
and  immediate  success.  A  knowledge  of  Sterne  existed  among 
the  more  intelligent  lovers  of  English  literature  in  Germany, 
the  leaders  of  thought,  whose  voice  compelled  attention 
for  the  understandable,  but  was  powerless  to  create  apprecia- 
tion for  the  unintelligible  among  the  lower  ranks  of  readers. 
This  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  Yorick  were  immediately 
available  for  the  furtherance  of  Sterne's  fame  as  soon  as  a 
work  of  popular  appeal  was  published.  The  then  prevailing 
interest  in  travels  is,  further,  not  to  be  overlooked  as  a  force- 
ful factor  in  securing  immediate  recognition  for  the  Senti- 
mental Journey.2  At  no  time  in  the  world's  history  has  the 
popular  interest  in  books  of  travel,  containing  geographical 
and  topographical  description,  and  information  concerning 
peoples  and  customs,  been  greater  than  during  this  period. 
The  presses  teemed  with  stories  of  wanderers  in  known  and 
unknown  lands.  The  preface  to  the  Neiie  Zeitungen  von 
Gelehrten  Sachen  of  Leipzig  for  the  year  1759  heralds  as  a 

J- Various  German  authorities  date  the  Sentimental  Journey  erroneously  1767. 
Jordens,  V,  p.  753;  Koberstein,  III,  p.  463;  Hirsching,  XIII,  pp.  291-309. 

2  The  reviewer  in  the  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.  (Anhang  I-XII,  vol.  II,  p,  896) 
implies  a  contemporary  cognizance  of  this  aid  to  its  popularity.  He  notes  the  in- 
terest in  accounts  of  travels  and  fears  that  some  readers  will  be  disappointed  after 
taking  up  the  book.  Some  French  books  of  travel,  notably  Chapelle's  "Voyage  en 
Provence,"  1656,  were  read  with  appreciation  by  cultivated  Germany  and  had  their 
influence  parallel  and  auxiliary  to  Sterne's. 

35 


36 

matter  of  importance  a  gain  in  geographical  description.  The 
Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gelehrtcn  Sachen,  1773,  makes  in  its 
tables  of  contents,  a  separate  division  of  travels.  In  1759, 
also,  the  "Allgemeine  Historic  der  Reisen  zu  Wasser  und 
zu  Lande"  (Leipzig,  1747- 1774),  reached  its  seventeenth  vol- 
ume. These  are  brief  indications  among  numerous  similar  in- 
stances of  the  then  predominant  interest  in  the  wanderer's  ex- 
perience. Sterne's  second  work  of  fiction,  though  differing  in 
its  nature  so  materially  from  other  books  of  travel,  may  well, 
even  if  only  from  the  allurement  of  its  title,  have  shared  the 
general  enthusiasm  for  the  traveler's  narrative.  Most  im- 
portant, however,  is  the  direct  appeal  of  the  book  itself,  irre- 
sistible to  the  German  mind  and  heart.  Germany  had  been 
for  a  decade  hesitating  on  the  verge  of  tears,  and  grasped  with 
eagerness  a  book  which  seemed  to  give  her  British  sanction  for 
indulgence  in  her  lachrymose  desire. 

The  portion  of  Shandy  which  is  virtually  a  part  of  the  Sen- 
timental Journey,^  which  Sterne,  possibly  to  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  the  publisher,  thrust  in  to  fill  out  volumes  contracted 
for,  was  not  long  enough,  nor  distinctive  enough  in  its  use  of 
sentiment,  was  too  effectually  concealed  in  its  volume  of  Shan- 
dean  quibbles,  to  win  readers  for  the  whole  of  Shandy,  or  to 
direct  wavering  attention  through  the  mazes  of  Shandyism  up 
to  the  point  where  the  sentimental  Yorick  really  takes  up  the 
pen  and  introduces  the  reader  to  the  sad  fate  of  Maria  of 
Moulines.  One  can  imagine  eager  Germany  aroused  to  senti- 
mental frenzy  over  the  Maria  incident  in  the  Sentimental 
Journey,  turning  with  throbbing  contrition  to  the  forgotten, 
neglected,  or  unknown  passage  in  Tristram  Shandy.- 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  sources  for  Sterne  in  English  letters, 
that  is,  for  the  strange  combination  of  whimsicality,  genuine 
sentiment  and  knavish  smiles,  which  is  the  real  Sterne.  He 
is  individual,  exotic,  not  demonstrable  from  preceding  literary 
conditions,  and  his  meteoric,  or  rather  rocket-like  career  in 
Britain  is  in  its  decline  a  proof  of  the  insensibility  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  to  a  large  portion  of  his  gospel.     The  creature  of 

^  In  the  Seventh  Book  of  Tristram  Shandy.      Ill,  pp.  47-110. 
'  III,  pp.  210-213. 


37 

fancy  which,  by  a  process  of  elimination,  the  Germans  made 
out  of  Yorick  is  more  easily  explicable  from  existing  and  pre- 
ceding literary  and  emotional  conditions  in  Germany,^ 
Brockes  had  prepared  the  way  for  a  sentimental  view  of  nature, 
Klopstock's  poetry  had  fostered  the  display  of  emotion,  the 
analysis  of  human  feeling.  Gellert  had  spread  his  own  sort  of 
religious  and  ethical  sentimentalism  among  the  multitudes  of 
his  devotees.  Stirred  by,  and  contemporaneous  with  Gallic 
feeling,  Germany  was  turning  with  longing  toward  the  natural 
man,  that  is,  man  unhampered  by  convention  and  free  to  fol- 
low the  dictates  of  the  primal  emotions.  The  exercise  of  hu- 
man sympathy  was  a  goal  of  this  movement.  In  this  vague, 
uncertain  awakening,  this  dangerous  freeing  of  human  feel- 
ings, Yorick's  practical  illustration  of  the  sentimental  life 
could  not  but  prove  an  incentive,  an  organizer,  a  relief  for 
pent-up  emotion.^ 

Johann  Joachim  Christoph  Bode  has  already  been  mentioned 
in  relation  to  the  early  review  of  Ziickert's  translation  of 
Shandy.  His  connection  with  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Yorick 
cult  after  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  demands 
a  more  extended  account  of  this  German  apostle  of  Yorick. 
In  the  sixth  volume  of  Bode's  translation  of  Montaigne^  was 
printed  first  the  life  of  the  translator  by  C.  A.  Bottiger.     This 

1  The  emotional  groundwork  in  Germany  which  furthered  the  appreciation  of 
the  Journey,  and  the  sober  sanity  of  British  common  sense  which  choked  its 
English  sweep,  are  admirably  and  typically  illustrated  in  the  story  of  the  meeting 
of  Fanny  Burney  and  Sophie  la  Roche,  as  told  in  the  diary  of  the  former  ("The 
Diary  and  Letters  of  Frances  Burney,  Madame  D'Arblay,"  Boston,  1880,  I,  p.  291), 
entries  for  September  11  and  17,  1786.  On  their  second  meeting  Mme.  D'Arblay 
writes  of  the  German  sentimentalist:  "Madame  la  Roche  then  rising  and  fixing  her 
eyes  filled  with  tears  on  my  face,  while  she  held  both  my  hands,  in  the  most  melting 
accents  exclaimed,  'Miss  Borni,  la  plus  chere,  la  plus  digne  des  Anglaises,  dites — 
moi — m'aimez  vous?' "  Miss  Burney  is  quite  sensibly  frank  in  her  inability  to 
fathom  this  imbecility.  Ludmilla  Assing  ("Sophie  la  Roche,"  Berlin,  1S59,  pp. 
273-280)   calls  Miss  Burney  cold  and  petty. 

2  So  heartily  did  the  Germans  receive  the  Sentimental  Journey  that  it  was  felt 
ere  long  to  be  almost  a  German  book.  The  author  of  "Ueber  die  schonen  Geister 
und  Dichter  des  i8ten  Jahrhunderts  vornehmlich  unter  den  Deutschen,"  by  J.  C. 
Fritsch  (?)  (Lemgo,  1771),  gives  the  book  among  German  stories  and  narratives 
(pp.  177-9)  along  with  Hagedorn,  Gellert,  Wieland  and  others.  He  says  of  the 
first  parts  of  the  Sentimental  Journay,  "zwar  ....  aus  dem  Englischen  ubersetzt; 
kann  aber  fiir  national  passieren." 

'  Michael  Montaigne's  "Gedanken  und  Meinungen  tiber  Allerley  Gegenstande. 
Ins  Deutsch  ubersetzt."     Berlin   (Lagarde)    1793-5.      Bode's  life  is  in  Vol.  VI,  pages 


38 

was  published  the  following  year  by  the  same  house  in  a  sepa- 
rate volume  entitled  "J.  J.  C.  Bodes  literarisches  Leben,  nebst 
dessen  Bildnis  von  Lips."  All  other  sources  of  information 
regarding  Bode,  such  as  the  accounts  in  Jordens  and  in 
Schlichtegroll's  "Nekrolog,"^  are  derivations  or  abstracts  from 
this  biography.  Bode  was  born  in  Braunschweig  in  1730; 
reared  in  lowly  circumstances  and  suffering  various  vicissi- 
tudes of  fortune,  he  came  to  Hamburg  in  1756-7.  Gifted  with 
a  talent  for  languages,  which  he  had  cultivated  assiduously, 
he  was  regarded  at  the  time  of  his  arrival,  even  in  Hamburg, 
as  one  especially  conversant  with  the  English  language  and 
literature.  His  nature  must  have  borne  something  akin  to 
Yorick,  for  his  biographer  describes  his  position  in  Hamburg 
society  as  not  dissimilar  to  that  once  occupied  for  a  brief  space 
in  the  London  world  by  the  clever  feted  Sterne.  Yet  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  friend  as  biographer  doubtless  colors  the  case, 
forcing  a  parallel  with  Yorick  by  sheer  necessity.  Before 
1768  Bode  had  published  several  translations  from  the  Eng- 
lish with  rather  dubious  success,  and  the  adaptability  of  the 
Sentimental  Journey  to  German  uses  must  have  occurred  to 
him,  or  have  been  suggested  to  him  directly  upon  its  very  im- 
portation into  Germany.  He  undoubtedly  set  himself  to  the 
task  of  translation  as  soon  as  the  book  reached  his  hands,  for, 
in  the  issue  of  the  Hamburgische  Adress-Comptoir-Nachrich- 
ten  for  April  20,  is  found  Bode's  translation  of  a  section  from 
the  Sentimental  Journey.  "Die  Bettler"  he  names  the  extract; 
it  is  really  the  fifth  of  the  sections  which  Sterne  labels  "Mon- 
triul."^  In  the  numbers  of  the  same  paper  for  June  11  and 
15,  Bode  translates  in  two  parts  the  story  of  the  "Monk ;"  thus, 
in  but  little  over  three  months  after  its  English  publication,  the 
story  of  the  poor  Franciscan  Lorenzo  and  his  fateful  snuff-box 
was  transferred  to  Germany  and  began  its  heart-touching  ca- 
reer. These  excerpts  were  included  by  Bode  later  in  the  year 
when  he  published  his  translation  of  the  whole  Sentimental 

III-CXLIV.  For  a  review  of  Bode's  Life  see  Neue  Bibl.  der  schonen  Wissen- 
schaften,  LVIII,  p.  93. 

^  Supplementband  fur  1790-93,  pp.   350-418. 

2  The  references  to  the  Hamburgische  Adress-Comptoir-Nachrichten  are  as  fol- 
lows:    1768,  pages  241,  361  and  369  respectively. 


39 

Journey.  The  first  extract  was  evidently  received  with  favor 
and  interest,  for,  in  the  foreword  to  the  translation  of  the 
"Monk,"  in  the  issue  of  June  ii.  Bode  assigns  this  as  his 
reason  for  making  his  readers  better  acquainted  with  this 
worthy  book.  He  further  says  that  the  reader  of  taste  and  in- 
sight will  not  fail  to  distinguish  the  difference  when  so  fine 
a  connoisseur  of  the  human  heart  as  Sterne  depicts  sentiments, 
and  when  a  shallow  wit  prattles  of  his  emotions.  Bode's  last 
words  are  a  covert  assumption  of  his  role  as  prophet  and  priest 
of  Yorick  in  Germany :  "The  reader  may  himself  judge  from 
the  following  passage,  whether  we  have  spoken  of  our  Briton 
in  terms  of  too  high  praise." 

In  the  July  number  of  the  Unterhaltimgen,  another  Ham- 
burg periodical,  is  printed  another  translation  from  the  Sen- 
timental Journey  entitled:  "Eine  Begebenheit  aus  Yoricks 
Reise  fiirs  Herz  iibersetzt."  The  episode  is  that  of  the  Me  de 
chambre'^  who  is  seeking  Crebillon's  "Les  Egarements  du 
Coeur  et  de  I'Esprit."  The  translator  omits  the  first  part  of 
the  section  and  introduces  us  to  the  story  with  a  few  un- 
acknowledged words  of  his  own.  In  the  September  number 
of  the  same  periodical  the  rest  of  the  Me  de  chambre  story^  is 
narrated.  Here  also  the  translator  alters  the  beginning  of  the 
account  to  make  it  less  abrupt  in  the  rendering.  The  author 
of  this  translation  has  not  been  determined.  Bode  does  not 
translate  the  word  "Sentimental"  in  his  published  extracts,  giv- 
ing merely  the  English  title ;  hence  Lessing's  advice^  concern- 
ing the  rendering  of  the  word  dates  probably  from  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer.  The  translation  in  the  September  number 
of  the  Unferhaltmigen  also  does  not  contain  a  rendering  of  the 
word,  Bode's  complete  translation  was  issued  probably  in 
October,*  possibly  late  in  September,  1768,  and  bore  the  im- 
print of  the  publisher  Cramer  in  Hamburg  and  Bremen,  but 

ipp.  71-74. 

2  Pp.  101-104.  "The  Temptation"  and  the  "Conquest."  The  Unterhaltimgen 
is  censured  by  the  Deutsche  Bibliothek  der  schonen  IVissenschaften,  III,  p.  266,  for 
printing  a  poor  translation  from  Yorick  when  two  translations  had  already  been 
announced.  The  references  to  Unterhaltungen  are  respectively  pp.  12-16,  and 
209-213. 

5  See  below,  p.  42-3. 

*  It  was  reviewed  in  the  Hamburgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent,  Oct.  29. 


40 

the  volumes  were  printed  at  Bode's  own  press  and  were  entitled 
"Yoricks  Empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien,  aus 
dem  Englischen  iibersetzt."^ 

The  translator's  preface  occupies  twenty  pages  and  is  an  im- 
portant document  in  the  story  of  Sterne's  popularity  in  Ger- 
many, since  it  represents  the  introductory  battle-cry  of  the 
Sterne  cult,  and  illustrates  the  attitude  of  cultured  Germany 
toward  the  new  star.  Bode  begins  his  foreword  with  Lessing's 
well-known  statement  of  his  devotion  to  Sterne.  Bode  does 
not  name  Lessing ;  calls  him  "a  well-known  German  scholar." 
The  statement  referred  to  was  made  when  Bode  brought  to  his 
friend  the  news  of  Sterne's  death.     It  is  worth  repeating : 

"I  would  gladly  have  resigned  to  him  five  years  of  my  own 
life,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  though  I  had  known  with 
certainty  that  I  had  only  ten,  or  even  eight  left.  .  .  .  but  under 
the  condition  that  he  must  keep  on  writing,  no  matter  what, 
life  and  opinions,  or  sermons,  or  journeys."  On  July  5,  1768, 
Lessing  wrote  to  Nicolai,  commenting  on  Winckelmann's 
death  as  follows :  "He  is  the  second  author  within  a  short 
time,  to  whom  I  would  have  gladly  given  some  years  of  my 
own  life."- 

Nearly  thirty  years  later  (March  20,  1797)  Sara  Wulf, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Meyer  and  who  was  later  and  better 
known  as  Frau  von  Grotthus,  wrote  from  Dresden  to  Goethe 
of  the  consolation  found  in  "Werther"  after  a  disappointing 
youthful  love  affair,  and  of  Lessing's  conversation  with  her 
then  concerning  Goethe.  She  reports  Lessing's  words  as  fol- 
lows :  "You  will  feel  sometime  what  a  genius  Goethe  is,  I  am 
sure  of  this.  I  have  always  said  I  would  give  ten  years  of  my 
own  life  if  I  had  been  able  to  lengthen  Sterne's  by  one  year, 
but  Goethe  consoles  me  in  some  measure  for  his  loss."^ 

It  would  be  absurd  to  attach  any  importance  to  this  varia- 
tion of  statement.  It  does  not  indicate  necessarily  an  affection 
for  Sterne  and  a  regret  at  his  loss,  mathematically  doubled  in 
these  seven  or  eight  years  between  Sterne's  death  and  the  time 
of  Lessing's  conversation  with  Sara  Meyer ;  it  probably  arises 

II,  pp.  XX,   168;   II,  p.    168. 

^  Lachmann's  edition,    1840,  XII,  p.    199. 

•See  Goethc-Jahrhuch,  XIV  (1893),  pp.  51-52. 


41 

from  a  failure  of  memory  on  the  part  of  the  lady,  for  Bode's 
narrative  of  the  anecdote  was  printed  but  a  few  months  after 
Sterne's  death,  and  Lessing  made  no  effort  to  correct  an  inac- 
curacy of  statement,  if  such  were  the  case,  though  he  lived  to 
see  four  editions  of  Bode's  translation  and  consequently  so 
many  repetitions  of  his  expressed  but  impossible  desire.  Erich 
Schmidt^  reduces  this  willingness  on  Lessing's  part  to  one  year, 
— an  unwarranted  liberty. 

These  two  testimonies  of  Lessing's  devotion  are  of  im- 
portance in  defining  his  attitude  toward  Yorick.  They  attest 
the  fact  that  this  was  no  passing  fancy,  no  impulsive  thought 
uttered  on  the  moment  when  the  news  of  Sterne's  death  was 
brought  to  him,  and  when  the  Sentimental  Journey  could  have 
been  but  a  few  weeks  in  his  hands,  but  a  deep-seated  desire, 
born  of  reflection  and  continued  admiration.-  The  addition 
of  the  word  "Reisen"  in  Bode's  narrative  is  significant,  for  it 
shows  that  Lessing  must  have  become  acquainted  with  the  Sen- 
timental Journey  before  April  6,  the  date  of  the  notice  of 
Sterne's  death  in  the  Hamhtirgische  Adress-Comptoir-Nach- 
richten;"^  that  is,  almost  immediately  after  its  English  publi- 
cation, unless  Bode,  in  his  enthusiasm  for  the  book  which  he 
was  offering  the  public,  inserted  the  word  unwarrantably  in 
Lessing's  statement. 

To  return  to  Bode's  preface.  With  emphatic  protestations, 
disclaiming  vanity  in  appealing  to  the  authority  of  so  distin- 
guished a  friend.  Bode  proceeds  to  relate  more  in  detail  Les- 
sing's connection  with  his  endeavor.  He  does  not  say  that 
Lessing  suggested  the  translation  to  him,  though  his  account 
has  been  interpreted  to  mean  that,  and  this  fact  has  been  gen- 
erally accepted  by  the  historians  of  literature  and  the  biogra- 

^  "Heinrich  Leopold  Wagner,  Goethe's  Jugendgenosse,"  2d  ed.  Jena,  From- 
mann,  1879,  p.   104. 

-  It  is  not  possible  to  date  with  absolute  certainty  the  time  of  Lessing's  con- 
versation with  Sara  Meyer,  but  it  was  after  the  publication  of  "Werther,"  and 
must  have  been  on  one  of  his  two  visits  to  Berlin  after  that,  that  is,  in  March, 
1775,  on  his  way  to  Vienna,  or  in  February,  1776,  on  his  return  from  Italy. 

^  Bode  must  have  come  to  Lessing  with  the  information  before  this  public  an- 
nouncement, for  Lessing  could  hardly  have  failed  to  learn  of  it  when  once  pub- 
lished in  a  prominent  Hamburg  perodical. 


A 


42 

phers  of  Lessing/  The  tone  of  Bode's  preface,  however, 
rather  impHes  the  contrary,  and  no  other  proof  of  the  suppo- 
sition is  available.  What  Bode  does  assert  is  merely  that  the 
name  of  the  scholar  whom  he  quotes  as  having  expressed  a 
willingness  to  give  a  part  of  his  own  life  if  Sterne's  literary 
activity  might  be  continued,  would  create  a  favorable  prepos- 
session for  his  original  ("ein  gihistiges  Vorurtheil"),  and  that 
a  translator  is  often  fortunate  enough  if  his  selection  of  a  book 
to  translate  is  not  censured.  All  this  implies,  on  Lessing's 
part,  only  an  approval  of  Bode's  choice,  a  fact  which  would 
naturally  follow  from  the  remarkable  statement  of  esteem  in  the 
preceding  sentence.  Bode  says  further  that  out  of  friendship 
for  him  and  regard  for  the  reader  of  taste,  this  author  (Les- 
sing),  had  taken  the  trouble  to  go  through  the  whole  transla- 
tion, and  then  he  adds  the  conventional  request  in  such 
circumstances,  that  the  errors  remaining  may  be  attributed  to 
the  translator  and  not  to  the  friend. 

The  use  of  the  epithet  "empfindsam"  for  "sentimental"  is 
then  the  occasion  for  some  discussion,  and  its  source  is  one  of 
the  facts  involved  in  Sterne's  German  vogue  which  seem  to 
have  fastened  themselves  on  the  memory  of  literature.  Bode 
had  in  the  first  place  translated  the  English  term  by  "sittlich,"  a 
manifestly  insufficient  if  not  flatly  incorrect  rendering,  but  his 
friend  coined  the  word  "empfindsam"  for  the  occasion  and 
Bode  quotes  Lessing's  own  words  on  the  subject: 

"Bemerken  Sie  sodann  dass  sentimental  ein  neues  Wort  ist. 

''■  Bottiger  in  his  biographical  sketch  of  Bode  is  the  first  to  make  this  statement 
(p.  Ixiii),  and  the  spread  of  the  idea  and  its  general  acceptation  are  directly 
traceable  to  his  authority.  The  Neue  Bibl.  der  schonen  Wissenschaften  in  its  re- 
view of  Bottiger's  work  repeats  the  statement  (LVIII,  p.  97),  and  it  is  again 
repeated  by  Jordens  (I,  p.  114,  edition  of  1806),  by  Danzel-Guhrauer  with  express 
mention  of  Bottiger  ("Lessing,  sein  Leben  und  seine  Werke,"  II.  Erste  Abtheilung, 
p.  287),  and  by  Erich  Schmidt  ("Lessing,  Geschichte  seines  Lebens  und  seiner 
Schriften,"  Berlin,  1899,  I,  p.  674).  The  editor  of  the  Hempel  edition,  VII,  p. 
553  claims  Lessing  as  responsible  for  the  translation  of  the  Journey,  and  also  of 
Shandy.  The  success  of  the  "Empfindsame  Reise"  and  the  popularity  of  Sterne  are 
quite  enough  to  account  for  the  latter  translation  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  urging 
on  Lessing's  part.  A  similar  statement  is  found  in  Gervinus  (V,  p.  194)-  The 
Frankfurter  Gel.  Ans.  (Apr.  21,  1775),  p.  267,  credits  Wieland  with  having  urged 
Bode  to  translate  Shandy.  The  Neue  Critische  Nachrichten,  Greifswald,  IX,  p.  279, 
makes  the  same  statement.  The  article,  however,  in  the  Teutscher  Merkur  (i773. 
II,  pp.  228-30)  expresses  merely  a  great  satisfaction  that  Bode  is  engaged  upon  the 
work,  and  gives  some  suggestions  to  him  about  it. 


43 

War  es  Sternen  erlaubt,  sich  ein  neues  Wort  zu  bilden,  so  muss 
es  eben  darum  auch  seinem  Uebersetzer  erlaubt  seyn.  Die 
Englander  batten  gar  kein  Adjectivum  von  Sentiment:  wir 
haben  von  Empfindung  mehr  als  eines,  empfindlich,  empfind- 
bar,  empfindungsreich,  aber  diese  sagen  alle  etvvas  anders. 
Wagen  Sie,  empfindsam !  Wenn  eine  miihsame  Reise  eine  Reise 
heisst,  bey  der  viel  Miihe  ist :  so  kann  ja  auch  eine  empfindsame  r 

Reise  eine  Reise  heissen,  be  der  viel  Empfindung  war.     Ich  Ji 

will  nicht  sagen,  dass  Sie  die  Analogie  ganz  auf  ihrer  Seite 
haben  diirften.     Aber  was  die  Leser  vors  erste  bey  dem  Worte  ^ 

noch  nicht  denken  ,mogeni  sie  sich  nach  und  nach  dabey  zu      ^    pA 
denken  gewohnen."^ 

The  statement  that  Sterne  coined  the  word  "sentimental"  is 
undoubtedly  incorrect,^  but  no  one  seems  to  have  discovered 
and  corrected  the  error  till  Nicolai's  article  on  Sterne  in  the 
Berlinischc  Monatsschrift  for  February,  1795,  in  which  it  is 
shown  that  the  word  had  been  used  in  older  English  novels,  in 
"Sir  Charles  Grandison"  indeed.^  It  may  well  be  that,  as 
Bottiger  hints,*  the  coining  of  the  word  "empfindsam"  was  sug- 
gested to  Lessing  by  Abbt's  similar  formation  of  "empfind- 
nisz."^ 

The  preface  to  this  first  edition  of  Bode's  translation  of  the 
Sentimental  Journey  contains,  further,  a  sketch  of  Sterne's 
life,''  his  character  and  his  works.     Bode  relates  the  familiar 

1  See  Bode's  Introduction,  p.  iii,  iv.  Also  Allg.  deutsche  BibL,  Anhang,  I-XII, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  896-9. 

-  Strangely  enough  the  first  use  of  this  word  which  has  been  found  is  in  one  of 
Sterne's  letters,  written  in  1740  to  the  lady  who  subsequently  became  his  wife. 
(Letters,  p.  25).  But  these  letters  were  not  published  till  177s,  long  after  the 
word  was  in  common  use.  An  obscure  Yorkshire  clergyman  can  not  be  credited 
with   its  invention. 

3  Bottiger  refers  to  Campe's  work,  "Ueber  die  Bereicherung  und  Reinigung  der 
deutschen  Sprache,"  p.  297  ff.,  for  an  account  of  the  genesis  of  this  word,  but  adds 
that  Campe  is  incorrect  in  his  assertion  that  Sterne  coined  the  word.  Campe  does 
not  make  the  erroneous  statement  at  all,  but  Bode  himself  puts  it  in  the  mouth  of 
Lessing. 

*  See  foot  note  to  page  Ixiii. 

^  For  particulars  concerning  this  parallel  formation  see  Mendelssohn's  Schriften, 
ed.  by  G.  B.  Mendelssohn,  Leipzig,  1844.  V,  pp.  330,  335-7,  letters  between  Abbt, 
Mendelssohn,  Nicolai. 

"  The  source  of  Bode's  information  is  the  article  by  Dr.  Hill,  first  published 
in  the  Royal  Female  Magazine  for  April,  1760,  and  reprinted  in  the  London 
Chronicle,  May  5,  1760   (pp.  434-435),  under  the  title,  "Anecdotes  of  a  fashionable 


44 

story  of  the  dog,  but  misses  the  point  entirely  in  rendering 
"puppy"  by  "Geek"  in  Sterne's  reply,  "So  lang  er  ein  Geek  ist." 
The  watchcoat  episode  is  narrated,  and  a  brief  account  is  given 
of  Sterne's  fortunes  in  London  with  Tristram  Shandy  and  the 
sermons.  Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  hints  thrown 
out  in  this  sketch  relative  to  the  reading  of  Sterne  in  Germany. 
A  translation  from  Shandy  of  the  passage  descriptive  of  Parson 
Yorick  serves  as  a  portrait  for  Sterne. 

A  second  edition  of  Bode's  work  was  published  in  1769. 
The  preface,  which  is  dated  "Anfang  des  Monats  Mai,  1769," 
is  in  the  main  identical  with  the  first,  but  has  some  significant 
additions.  A  word  is  said  relative  to  his  controversy  with  a 
critic,  which  is  mentioned  later.^  Bode  confesses  further  that 
the  excellence  of  his  work  is  due  to  Ebert  and  Lessing,^ 
though  modesty  compelled  his  silence  in  the  previous  preface 
concerning  the  source  of  his  aid.  Bode  admits  that  even  this 
disclosure  is  prompted  by  the  clever  guess  of  a  critic  in  the 
Hambtirgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent,^  who  openly 
named  Lessing  as  the  scholar  referred  to  in  the  first  introduc- 
tion. The  addition  and  prominence  of  Ebert's  name  is  worthy 
of  note,  for  in  spite  of  the  plural  mention*  in  the  appendix  to 
the  introduction,  his  first  acknowledgment  is  to  one  friend  only 
and  there  is  no  suggestion  of  another  counselor.  Ebert's  con- 
nection with  the  Bode  translation  has  been  overlooked  in  the 
distribution  of  influence,  while  the  memorable  coining  of  the 
new  word,  supplemented  by  Bottiger's  unsubstantiated  state- 
ments, has  emphasized  Lessing's  service  in  this  regard.  Ebert 
is  well-known  as  an  intelligent  and  appreciative  student  of  Eng- 
lish literature,  and  as  a  translator,  but  his  own  works  betray  no 
trace  of  imitation  or  admiration  of  Sterne. 

The  final  words  of  this  new  preface  promise  a  translation  of 
the  continuation  of  the  Sentimental  Journey ;  the  spurious  vol- 
umes of  Eugenius  are,  of  course,  the  ones  meant  here.     This 

Author."  Bode's  sketch  is  an  abridged  translation  of  this  article.  This  article  is 
referred  to  in  Sterne's  letters,   I,  pp.   38-9,  42. 

^  See  p.  47. 

^  "Dass  ich  das  Gute,  was  man  an  meiner  Uebersetzung  findet,  grossten  Theils 
denen  Herren  Ebert  und  Lessing  zu  verdanken  habe." 

^  Hambxtrgischer  Unpartheyischer  Correspondent,  October  29,   1768. 

*  "Verschwieg  ich  die  Namen  dieser  Manner." 


45 

introduction  to  the  second  edition  remains  unchanged  in  the 
subsequent  ones.  The  text  of  the  second  edition  was  substan- 
tially an  exact  reproduction  of  the  first,  but  Bode  allowed  him- 
self frequent  minor  changes  of  word  or  phrase,  an  alteration 
occurring  on  an  average  once  in  about  three  pages.  Bode's 
changes  are  in  general  the  result  of  a  polishing  or  filing  pro- 
cess, in  the  interest  of  elegance  of  discourse,  or  accuracy  of 
translation.  Bode  acknowledges  that  some  of  the  corrections 
were  those  suggested  by  a  reviewer,^  but  states  that  other  pas- 
sages criticised  were  allowed  to  stand  as  they  were.  He  says 
further  that  he  would  have  asked  those  friends  who  had  helped 
him  on  his  translation  itself  to  aid  him  in  the  alterations,  if 
distance  and  other  conditions  had  allowed.  The  reference  here 
is  naturally  to  his  separation  from  Ebert,  who  was  in  Braun- 
schweig, but  the  other  "conditions"  w^hich  could  prevent  a 
continuation  of  Lessing's  interest  in  the  translation  and  his  as- 
sistance in  revision  are  not  evident.  Lessing  was  in  Hamburg 
during  this  period,  and  hence  his  advice  was  available. 

Bode's  retranslation  of  the  passage  with  which  Sterne's  work 
closed  shows  increased  perception  and  appreciation  for  the 
subtleness  of  Sterne's  indecent  suggestions,  or,  perhaps,  a 
growing  lack  of  timidity  or  scruple  in  boldly  repeating  them. 
It  is  probable  that  the  continuation  by  Eugenius,  which  had 
come  into  his  hands  during  this  period,  had,  with  its  resump- 
tion of  the  point,  reminded  Bode  of  the  inadequacy  and  inex- 
actness of  his  previous  rendering. 

At  almost  precisely  the  same  time  that  Bode's  translation  ap- 
peared, another  German  rendering  was  published,  a  fact  which 
in  itself  is  significant  for  the  determination  of  the  relative 
strength  of  appeal  as  between  Sterne's  two  works  of  fiction. 
The  title-  of  this  version  was  "Versuch  fiber  die  menschliche 


^  See  p.  47. 

-  Jordens  gives  this  title,  which  is  the  correct  one.  Appall  in  "Werther  und 
seine  Zeit,"  (p.  247)  calls  it  "Herrn  Yoricks,  Verfasser  (sic)  des  Tristram  Shandy 
Reisen  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien,  als  ein  Versuch  iiber  die  menschliche  Natur," 
which  is  the  title  of  the  second  edition  published  later,  but  with  the  same  date. 
See  Allg.  deutsche  Bibliothek,  Anhang,  I-XII,  Vol.  II,  pp.  896-9.  Kayser  and 
Heinsius  both  give  "Empfindsame  Reisen  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien,  oder  Ver- 
such iiber  die  menschliche  Natur,"  which  is  evidently  a  confusion  with  the  better 
known  Bode  translation,  an  unconscious  effort  to  locate  the  book. 


46 

Natur  in  Herrn  Yoricks,  Verfasser  des  Tristram  Shandy, 
Reisen  durcli  Frankreich  und  Italien,  aus  dem  Englischen." 
It  was  dated  1769  and  was  published  at  the  "Fiirstliche  Waisen- 
hausbuchhandlung,"  in  Braunschweig.  The  preface  is  signed 
Braunschweig,  September  7,  1768,  and  the  book  was  issued 
in  September  or  October.  The  anonymous  translator  was 
Pastor  Mittelstedt^  in  Braunschweig  (Hirsching  und  Jordens 
say  Hofprediger),  whom  the  partisan  Bottiger  calls  the  ever- 
ready  manufacturer  of  translations  (der  allezeit  fertige  Ueber- 
setzungsfabrikant) .  Behmer  tentatively  suggests  Weis  as  the 
translator  of  this  early  rendering,  an  error  into  which  he  is  led 
evidently  by  a  remark  in  Bode's  preface  in  which  the  apologetic 
translator  states  the  rumor  that  Weis  was  engaged  in  translat- 
ing the  same  book,  and  that  he  (Bode)  would  surely  have 
locked  up  his  work  in  his  desk  if  the  publisher  had  not  thereby 
been  led  to  suffer  loss.  Nothing  was  ever  heard  of  this  third 
translation. 

This  first  edition  of  the  Mittelstedt  translation  contains  248 
pages  and  is  supplied  with  a  preface  which  is,  like  Bode's,  con- 
cerned in  considerable  measure  with  the  perplexing  problem  of 
the  translation  of  Sterne's  title.  The  English  title  is  given  and 
the  word  "sentimental"  is  declared  a  new  one  in  England  and 
untranslatable  in  German.  Mittelstedt  proposes  "Gefiihlvolle 
Reisen,"  "Reisen  fiirs  Herz,"  "Philosophische  Reisen,"  and 
then  condemns  his  own  suggestions  as  indeterminate  and 
forced.  He  then  goes  on  to  say,  "So  I  have  chosen  the  title 
which  Yorick  himself  suggests  in  the  first  part."-  He  speaks 
of  the  lavish  praise  already  bestowed  on  this  book  by  the 
learned  journals,  and  turns  at  last  aside  to  do  the  obvious:  he 
bemoans  Sterne's  death  by  quoting  Hamlet  and  closes  with  an 
apostrophe  to  Sterne  translated  from  the  April  number  of  the 
Monthly  Review  for  1768.^     In  1769,  the  year  when  the  first 

1  Through  some  strange  confusion,  a  reviewer  in  the  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von 
Gelehrten  Sachen  (1769,  p.  574)  states  that  Ebert  is  the  author  of  this  translation; 
he  also  asserts  that  Bode  and  Lessing  had  translated  the  book;  it  is  reported  too 
that  Bode  is  to  issue  a  new  translation  in  which  he  makes  use  of  the  work  of 
Lessing  and  Ebert,  a  most  curious  record  of  uncertain  rumor. 

*  See  p.  31,  "In  the  Street,  Calais."  "If  this  won't  turn  out  something,  another 
will.     No  matter, — 'tis  an  essay  upon  human  nature." 

^Monthly  Refiew,  XXXVIII,  p.  319:  "Gute  Nacht,  bewunderungswurdiger 
Yorick!     Dein     Witz,     Deine     Menschenliebe!     Dein     redliches     Herz!     ein    jedes 


47 

edition  was  dated,  the  Mittelstedt  translation  was  published 
under  a  slightly  altered  title,  as  already  mentioned.  This  sec- 
ond edition  of  the  Mittelstedt  translation  in  the  same  year  as 
the  first  is  overlooked  by  Jordens  and  Hirsching,^  both  of 
whom  give  a  second  and  hence  really  a  third  edition  in  1774. 
Bottiger  notes  with  partisan  zeal  that  Bode's  translation  was 
made  use  of  in  some  of  the  alterations  of  this  second  edition, 
and  further  records  the  fact  that  the  account  of  Sterne's  life, 
added  in  this  edition,  was  actually  copied  from  Bode's  preface.^ 

The  publication  of  the  Mittelstedt  translation  was  the  oc- 
casion of  a  brief  controversy  between  the  two  translators  in 
contemporary  journals.  Mittelstedt  printed  his  criticism  of 
Bode's  work  in  a  home  paper,  the  Braunschzveiger  Intelligenz- 
hldtter,  and  Bode  spoke  out  his  defense  in  the  Neue  Hamburger 
Zeitung.  That  Bode  in  his  second  edition  adopted  some  of  the 
reviewer's  suggestions  and  criticisms  has  been  noted,  but  in  the 
preface  to  this  edition  he  declines  to  resume  the  strife  in  spite 
of  general  expectation  of  it,  but,  as  a  final  shot,  he  delivers 
himself  of  "an  article  from  his  critical  creed,"  that  the  "critic  is 
as  little  infallible  as  author  or  translator,"  which  seems,  at  any 
rate,  a  rather  pointless  and  insignificant  contribution  to  the 
controversy. 

Bode's  translation  of  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of 
Yorick's  Journey,^  that  is,  the  continuation  by  Eugenius,  fol- 
lowed directly  after  the  announcement  in  the  preface  to  the 
second  edition  of  the  first  two  volumes,  as  already  mentioned. 
Bottiger  states  that  Bode  had  this  continuation  from  Alberti 
and  knew  it  before  anyone  else  in  Germany,  It  was  published 
in  England  in  the  spring  of  1769,  and  was  greeted  with  a  dis- 
approval which  was  quite  general,  and  it  never  enjoyed  there 

untadelhafte  Stiick  deines  Lebens  und  deiner  Schriften  miisse  in  einem  unster- 
blichen  Gedachtnisse  bliihen, — und  O!  mogte  der  Engel,  der  jenes  anfgezeichnet 
hat,  iiber  die  Unvollkommenheiten  von  beiden  eine  Thrane  des  Mitleidens  fallen 
lassen  und  sie  auf  ewig  ausloschen." 

1  Jordens,  V,  p.  753.  Hirsching,  Historisch-Iitterarisches  Handbuch,  XIII,  pp. 
291-309  (1809). 

2  It  has  not  been  possible  to  examine  this  second  edition,  but  the  information 
concerning  Sterne's  life  may  quite  possibly  have  been  taken  not  from  Bode's  work 
but  from  his  sources  as  already  given. 

^  "Yoriks  empfindsame  Reise,  aus  dem  Englischen  ubersetzt,"  3ter  und  4ter 
Theil,  Hamburg  und  Bremen,  bei  Cramer,  1769. 


48 

any  considerable  genuine  popularity  or  recognition.  Bode 
published  this  translation  of  Stevenson's  work  without  any 
further  word  of  comment  or  explanation  whatsoever,  a  fact 
which  easily  paved  the  way  for  a  misunderstanding  relative  to 
the  volumes,  for  Bode  was  frequently  regarded  as  their  author 
and  held  responsible  for  their  defects.  Bode  himself  never 
made  any  satisfactory  or  adequate  explanation  of  his  attitude 
toward  these  volumes,  and  the  reply  to  Goeze  in  the  introduc- 
tion to  his  translation  of  Shandy  is  the  nearest  approach  to  a 
discussion  of  his  position.  But  there  Bode  is  concerned  only 
with  the  attack  made  by  the  Hamburg  pastor  upon  his  char- 
acter, an  inference  drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  book  trans- 
lated, and  the  character  of  the  translation ;  in  the  absence  of 
a  new  edition  in  which  "Mine  and  His  shall  be  marked  off  by 
distinct  boundaries,"  he  asks  Goeze  only  to  send  to  him,  and 
beg  "for  original  and  translation,"  naturally  for  the  purpose 
of  comparison.  This  evasive  reply  is  Bode's  only  defense  or 
explanation.  Bottiger  claims  that  the  review  of  Bode's  trans- 
lation in  the  AUegemeine  dentsche  Bibliothek  did  much  to 
spread  the  idea  of  Bode's  authorship,  though  the  reviewer  in 
that  periodicaP  only  suggests  the  possibility  of  German  author- 
ship, a  suspicion  aroused  by  the  substitution  of  German  customs 
and  motif  and  word-play,  together  with  contemporary  literary 
allusion,  allusion  to  literary  mediocrities  and  obscurities,  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  the  book's  being 
a  literal  translation  from  the  English. 

The  exact  amount  and  the  nature  of  Bode's  divergence  from 
the  original,  his  alterations  and  additions,  have  never  been  defi- 
nitely stated  by  anyone.  The  reviewer  in  the  AUgcmeine 
dentsche  Bibliothek  is  manifestly  ignorant  of  the  original.  Bot- 
tiger is  indefinite  and  partisan,  yet  his  statement  of  the  facts 
has  been  generaly  accepted  and  constantly  repeated.  He  ad- 
mits the  German  coloring  given  the  translation  by  Bode 
through  German  allusions  and  German  word-plays :  he  says 
that  Bode  allowed  himself  these  liberties,  feeling  that  he  was 
no  longer  dealing  with  Sterne,  a  statement  of  motive  on  Bode's 

^  See  Allg.  dentsche  Bibl.  Anhang,  I-XII,  \'ol.  II,  pp.  896-9.  Hirsching  (Hist.- 
Litt.   Handbuch)   says  confusedly  that  Bode  wrote  the  fourth  and  fifth  parts. 


49 

part  which  the  latter  never  makes  and  never  hints  at.  The 
only  absolute  additions  which  Bottiger  mentions  as  made  by- 
Bode  to  the  narrative  of  Eugenius  are  the  episode,  "Das 
Hiindchen,"  and  the  digression,  "Die  Moral."  The  erroneous 
idea  herein  implied  has  been  caught  up  and  repeated  by  nearly 
everyone  who  has  mentioned  Bode's  translation  of  the  work.^ 
The  less  certain  allusion  to  "Die  Moral"  has  been  lost  sight  of, 
and  "Das  Hiindchen"  alone  has  been  remembered  as  represent- 
ing this  activity  on  Bode's  part.  In  fact  this  episode  is  only 
one  of  many  pure  creations  on  Bode's  part  and  one  of  the 
briefer.  In  the  first  pages  of  these  volumes  Bode  is  faithful 
to  the  original,  a  fact  suggesting  that  examination  or  compar- 
ison of  the  original  text  and  Bode's  translation  was  never  car- 
ried beyond  the  first  two-score  pages ;  yet  here,  it  would  seem, 
Bode's  rendering  was  less  careful,  more  open  to  censure  for 
inaccuracy,  than  in  the  previous  volumes." 

This  method  of  translation  obtains  up  to  page  48,  then  Bode 
omits  a  half-page  of  half-innocent,  half-revolting  suggestion, 
the  story  of  the  Cordelier,  and  from  the  middle  of  page  49  to 
page  75,  twenty-five  pages,  the  translator  adds  material  abso- 
lutely his  own.  This  fiction,  introducing  Yorick's  sentimental 
attitude  toward  the  snuff-box,  resuming  a  sentimental  episode 
in  Sterne's  work,  full  of  tears  and  sympathy,  is  especially  char- 
acteristic of  Yorick,  as  the  Germans  conceived  him.     The  story 

^  See  Neue  Bibl.  der  schonen  Wissenschaften,  LVIII,  p.  98.  "Im  dritten  Bande 
ist  die  riihrende  Geschichte,  das  Hiindchen,  ganz  von  ihm."  Also  Jordens,  I,  114, 
Heine,  "Der  deutsche  Roman,"  p.  23. 

2  The  following  may  serve  as  examples  of  inadequate,  inexact  or  false  renderings: 

ORIGINAL  BODE'S  TRANSLATION 

Like  a  stuck  pig.  P.     5 :     Eine    arme     Hexe,    die     Feuer- 

Probe  machen  soil. 
Dress  as  well  as  undress.  P.    9:     Der    Kleidung    als    der    Einklei- 

dung. 
Chance  medley  of  sensation.  P.     11:     Unschuldiges    Verbrechen    der 

Sinne. 
Where    serenity    was    wont    to    fix    her        P.    13:     Wo    die    Heiterkeit    ihren    Sitz 

reign.  aufgeschlagen   hatte. 

Wayward  shades   of  my  canvas.  P.       20:       Die       harten       Schattirungen 

meines   Gewebes. 
Caterpillars.  P.  22 :     Heuschrecken. 

The  chance  medley  of  existence.  P.     23:      Das    unschuldige     Verbrechen 

des  Daseyns. 
4 


50 

is  entitled  "Das  Miindel,"^  "The  Ward,"  and  is  evidently  in- 
tended as  a  masculine  companion-piece  to  the  fateful  story  of 
Maria  of  Moulines,  linked  to  it  even  in  the  actual  narrative 
itself.  An  unfortunate,  half-crazed  man  goes  about  in  silence, 
performing  little  services  in  an  inn  w^here  Yorick  finds  lodging. 
The  hostess  tells  his  story.  He  was  once  the  brilliant  son  of 
the  village  miller,  was  well-educated  and  gifted  with  scholarly 
interests  and  attainments.  While  instructing  some  children  at 
Moulines,  he  meets  a  peasant  girl,  and  love  is  born  between 
them.  An  avaricious  brother  opposes  Jacques's  passion  and 
ultimately  confines  him  in  secret,  spreading  the  report  in  Mou- 
lines of  his  faithlessness  to  his  love.  After  a  tragedy  has  re- 
leased Jacques  from  his  unnatural  bondage,  he  learns  of  his 
loved  one's  death  and  loses  his  mental  balance  through  grief. 
Such  an  addition  to  the  brief  pathos  of  IMaria's  story,  as  nar- 
rated by  Sterne,  such  a  forced  explanation  of  the  circum- 
stances, is  peculiarly  commonplace  and  inartistic.  Sterne  in- 
stinctively closed  the  episode  with  sufficient  allowance  for  the 
exercise  of  the  imagination. 

Following  this  addition,  the  section  "Slander"  of  the  original 
is  omitted.  The  story  of  the  adventure  with  the  opera-girl  is 
much  changed.  The  bald  indecency  of  the  narrative  is  some- 
what softened  by  minor  substitutions  and  omissions.  Nearly 
two  pages  are  inserted  here,  in  which  Yorick  discourses  on  the 
difference  between  a  sentimental  traveler  and  an  avanturier. 
On  pages  122-126,  the  famous  "Hiindchen"  episode  is  narrated, 
an  insertion  taking  the  place  of  the  hopelessly  vulgar  "Rue 
Tireboudin."  According  to  this  narrative,  Yorick,  after  the 
fire,  enters  a  home  where  he  finds  a  boy  weeping  over  a  dead 
dog  and  refusing  to  be  comforted  with  promises  of  other  canine 
possessions.  The  critics  united  in  praising  this  as  being  a  pos- 
itive addition  to  the  Yorick  adventures,  as  conceived  and  related 
in  Sterne's  finest  manner.  After  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, one  can  acknowledge  the  pathos,  the  humanity  of  the  inci- 
dent, but  the  manner  is  not  that  of  Sterne.  It  is  a  simple, 
straight-forward  relation  of  the  touching  incident,  introducing 

^  Bode's  story,  "Das  Mundel"  was  printed  in  the  Hamburgische  Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichten,  1769,  p.  729  (November  23)  and  p.  753  (December  4). 


51 

that  element  of  the  sentimental  movement  which  bears  in  Ger- 
many a  close  relation  to  Yorick,  and  was  exploited,  perhaps, 
more  than  any  other  feature  of  his  creed,  as  then  interpreted, 
i.  e.,  the  sentimental  regard  for  the  lower  animals.^  But  there 
is  lacking  here  the  inevitable  concomitant  of  Sterne's  relation 
of  a  sentimental  situation,  the  whimsicality  of  the  narrator  in 
his  attitude  at  the  time  of  the  adventure,  or  reflective  whimsical- 
ity in  the  narration.  Sterne  is  always  whimsically  quizzical  in 
his  conduct  toward  a  sentimental  condition,  or  toward  himself 
in  the  analysis  of  his  conduct. 

After  the  "Vergebene  Nachforschung"  (Unsuccessful  In- 
quiry), which  agrees  with  the  original.  Bode  adds  two  pages 
covering  the  touching  solicitude  of  La  Fleur  for  his  master's 
safety.  This  addition  is,  like  the  "Hiindchen"  episode,  just 
mentioned,  of  considerable  significance,  for  it  illustrates  an- 
other aspect  of  Sterne's  sentimental  attitude  toward  human 
relations,  which  appealed  to  the  Germany  of  these  decades 
and  was  extensively  copied ;  the  connection  between  master  and 
man.  Following  this  added  incident,  Bode  omits  completely 
three  sections  of  Eugenius's  original  narrative,  ''The  Defini- 
tion," ''Translation  of  a  Fragment"  and  "An  Anecdote;"  all 
three  are  brief  and  at  the  same  time  of  baldest,  most  revolting 
indecency.  In  all,  Bode's  direct  additions  amount  in  this  first 
volume  to  about  thirty-three  pages  out  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-two.  The  divergences  from  the  original  are  in  the  sec- 
ond volume  (the  fourth  as  numbered  from  Sterne's  genuine 
Journey)  more  marked  and  extensive :  above  fifty  pages  are 
entirely  Bode's  own,  and  the  individual  alterations  in  word, 
phrase,  allusion  and  sentiment  are  more  numerous  and  unwar- 
ranted. The  more  significant  of  Bode's  additions  are  here 
noted.  "Die  Moral"  (pages  32-37)  contains  a  fling  at  Col- 
lier, the  author  of  a  mediocre  English  translation  of  Klopstock's 
"Messias,"  and  another  against  Kolbele,  a  contemporary  Ger- 

^  There  will  be  frequent  occasion  to  mention  this  impulse  emanating  from 
Sterne,  in  the  following  pages.  One  may  note  incidentally  an  anonymous  book 
"Freundschaften"  (Leipzig,  1775)  in  which  the  author  beholds  a  shepherd  who  finds 
a  torn  lamb  and  indulges  in  a  sentimental  reverie  upon  it.  Allg.  deutsche  BibL, 
XXXVI,  I,  139. 


52 

man  novelist,  whose  productions  have  long  since  been  for- 
gotten.^ 

Eugenius's  chapter,  "Vendredi-Saint,"  Bode  sees  fit  to  alter 
in  a  rather  extraordinary  way,  by  changing  the  personnel  and 
giving  it  quite  another  introduction.  He  inserts  here  a  brief 
account  of  Walter  Shandy,  his  disappointment  at  Tristram's 
calamitous  nose  and  Tristram's  name,  and  his  resolve  to  per- 
fect his  son's  education ;  and  then  he  makes  the  visit  to  M'lle 
Laborde,  as  narrated  by  Eugenius,  an  episode  out  of  Walter 
Shandy's  book,  which  was  written  for  Tristram's  instruction, 
and,  according  to  Bode,  was  delivered  for  safe-keeping  into 
Yorick's  hands.  Bode  changes  M'lle  Laborde  into  M'lle  Gil- 
let,  and  Walter  Shandy  is  her  visitor,  not  Yorick.  Bode  al- 
lows himself  some  verbal  changes  and  softens  the  bald  sug- 
gestion at  the  end.  Bode's  motive  for  this  startling  change  is 
not  clear  beyond  question.  The  most  plausible  theory  is  that 
the  open  and  gross  suggestion  of  immoral  relation  between 
Yorick,  the  clergyman  and  moralist,  and  the  Paris  maiden, 
seemed  to  Bode  inconsistent  with  the  then  current  acceptation 
of  Yorick's  character;  and  hence  he  preferred  by  artifice  to 
foist  the  misdemeanor  on  to  the  elder  Shandy. 

The  second  extensive  addition  of  Bode's  in  this  volume  is  the 
section  called  "Die  Erklarung,"  and  its  continuation  in  the  two 
following  divisions,  a  story  which  unites  itself  with  the  "Frag- 
ment" in  Sterne's  original  narration.  Yorick  is  ill  and  herbs 
are  brought  to  him  in  paper  wrappings  which  turn  out  to  con- 
tain the  story  of  the  decayed  gentleman,  which,  according  to 
Sterne's  relation,  the  Notary  was  beginning  to  write.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  introduction  in  Sterne  was  also  brought 
by  La  Fleur  as  a  bit  of  wrapping  paper.  This  curious  coin- 
cidence, this  prosaic  resumption  of  the  broken  narrative,  is 
naive  at  least,  but  can  hardly  commend  itself  to  any  critic  as 
being  other  than  commonplace  and  bathetic.     The  story  itself, 

^  Bode  inserts  "^Miss  Judith  ]\Ieyer"  and  "Aliss  Philippine  Damiens,"  two  poor 
novels  by  this  Kolbele  in  place  of  Eugenius's  "Pilgrim's  Progress."  Bottiger  com- 
ments, "statt  des  im  englischen  Original  angefiihrten  schalen  Romans  'The  Pil- 
grim's Progress.'  "  Bode,  in  translating  Shandy  several  years  later,  inserts  for  the 
same  book,  "Thousand  and  one  Nights."  In  speaking  of  this,  Bottiger  calls  "Pil- 
grim's Progress"  "die  schale  englandische  Robinsonade,"  an  eloquent  proof  of 
Bottiger's  ignorance  of  English  literature. 


53 

as  related  by  the  dying  man  is  a  tale  of  accidental  incest  told 
quietly,  earnestly,  but  without  a  suggestion  of  Sterne's  wit  or 
sentiment. 

In  the  next  section,  emanating  entirely  from  Bode,  "Vom 
Gesundheitstrinken,"  the  author  is  somewhat  more  successful 
in  catching  the  spirit  of  Sterne  in  his  buoyancy,  and  in  his 
whimsical  anecdote  telling:  it  purports  to  be  an  essay  by  the 
author's  friend,  Grubbius,  The  last  addition  made  by  Bode^ 
introduces  once  more  Yorick's  sentiment  relative  to  man's 
treatment  of  the  animal  world.  Yorick,  walking  in  the  garden 
of  an  acquaintance,  shoots  a  sparrow  and  meets  with  reproof 
from  the  owner  of  the  garden.  Yorick  protests  prosaically 
that  it  was  only  a  sparrow,  yet  on  being  assured  that  it  was 
also  a  living  being,  he  succumbs  to  vexation  and  self-reproof 
at  his  own  failure  to  be  true  to  his  own  higher  self.  A  similar 
regret,  a  similar  remorse  at  sentimental  thoughtlessness,  is  re- 
corded of  the  real  Yorick  in  connection  with  the  Franciscan, 
Lorenzo.  But  there  is  present  in  Sterne's  story  the  inevitable 
element  of  caprice  in  thought  or  action,  the  whimsical  incon- 
sistency of  varying  moods,  not  a  mere  commonplace  lapse  from 
a  sentimental  creed.  In  one  case,  Yorick  errs  through  whim, 
in  the  other,  merely  through  heedlessness. 

Bode's  attitude  toward  the  continuation  of  Eugenius  and  the 
general  nature  of  his  additions  have  been  suggested  by  the 
above  account.  A  resume  of  the  omissions  and  the  verbal 
changes  would  indicate  that  they  were  made  frequently  be- 
cause of  the  indecency  of  the  original ;  the  transference  of  the 
immorality  in  the  episode  of  M'lle.  Laborde  and  Walter 
Shandy,  if  the  reason  above  suggested  be  allowed,  is  further 
proof  of  Bode's  solicitude  for  Yorick's  moral  reputation.  Yet 
the  retention  of  the  episode  "Les  Gants  d'Amour"  in  its  en- 
tirety, and  of  parts  of  the  continued  story  of  the  Piedmontese, 
may  seem  inconsistent  and  irreconcilable  with  any  absolute  ob- 
jection on  Bode's  part  other  than  a  quantitative  one,  to  this 
loathesome  element  of  the  Eugenius  narrative. 

Albrecht  Wittenberg-  in  a  letter  to  Jacobi,  dated  Hamburg, 

1  Pp.   i66  ff. 

^  Quellen  und  Forsclningen,  XXII,  p.   129. 


54 


April  21,  1769,  says  he  reads  that  Riedel  is  going  to  continue 
"Yorick's  Reisen,"  and  comments  upon  the  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult undertaking.  Nothing  further  is  known  of  this  plan  of 
Riedel's. 


CHAPTER  IV 

STERNE  IN  GERMANY  AFTER  THE  PUBLICATION 
OF  THE  SENTIMENTAL  JOURNEY 

The  publication  of  the  Sentimental  Journey,  as  implied  in  the 
previous  chapter,  brought  Sterne  into  vital  connection  with 
literary  impulses  and  emotional  experiences  in  Germany,  and 
his  position  as  a  leader  was  at  once  recognized.  Because  of 
the  immediate  translations,  the  reviews  of  the  English  original 
are  markedly  few,  even  in  journals  which  gave  considerable 
attention  to  English  literary  affairs.  The  Neue  Bibliothek  der 
schonen  Wissenschaften^  purposely  delays  a  full  review  of  the 
book  because  of  the  promised  translation,  and  contents  itself 
with  the  remark,  "that  we  have  not  read  for  a  long  time  any- 
thing more  full  of  sentiment  and  humor."  Yet,  strangely 
enough,  the  translation  is  never  worthily  treated,  only  the  new 
edition  of  1771  is  mentioned,-  with  especial  praise  of  Fiiger's 
illustrations. 

Other  journals  devote  long  reviews  to  the  new  favorite:  ac- 
cording to  the  Jenaische  Zeitiingen  von  Gelehrten  Sachen^  all 
the  learned  periodicals  vied  with  one  another  in  lavish  bestowal 
of  praise  upon  these  Journeys.  The  journals  consulted  go  far 
toward  justifying  this  statement. 

The  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek  reviews  both  the  Bode 
and  Mittelstedt  renderings,  together  with  Bode's  translation  of 
Stevenson's  continuation,  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Anhang 
to  Volumes  I-XIL*  The  critique  of  Bode's  work  defines, 
largely  in  the  words  of  the  book  itself,  the  peculiar  purpose  and 
method  of  the  Journey,  and  comments  briefly  but  with  frank 
enthusiasm  on  the  various  touching  incidents  of  the  narrative : 

1  VI,  I,  p.  166.     1768. 

2  XII,   1,  p.    142. 
^August  28,   1769.     P.   574. 
*Pp.  896-9. 

55 


56 

"Nur  ein  von  der  Natur  verwahrloseter  bleibt  dabei  kalt  und 
gleichgiiltig,"  remarks  the  reviewer.  The  conception  of 
Yorick's  personal  character,  which  prevailed  in  Germany,  ob- 
tained by  a  process  of  elimination  and  misunderstanding,  is 
represented  by  this  critic  when  he  records  without  modifying 
his  statement:  "Various  times  Yorick  shows  himself  as  the 
most  genuine  foe  of  self-seeking,  of  immoral  double  entendre, 
and  particularly  of  assumed  seriousness,  and  he  scourges  them 
emphatically."  The  review  of  the  third  and  fourth  parts  con- 
tains a  similar  and  perhaps  even  more  significant  passage  illus- 
trating the  view  of  Yorick's  character  held  by  those  who  did 
not  know  him  and  had  the  privilege  of  admiring  him  only  in 
his  writings  and  at  a  safe  distance.  "Yorick,"  he  says,  "al- 
though he  sometimes  brings  an  event,  so  to  speak,  to  the  brink 
of  an  indecorous  issue,  manages  to  turn  it  at  once  with  the 
greatest  delicay  to  a  decorous  termination.  Or  he  leaves  it 
incomplete  imder  such  circumstances  that  the  reader  is  im- 
pressed by  the  rare  delicacy  of  mind  of  the  author,  and  can 
never  suspect  that  such  a  man,  who  never  allows  a  double  en- 
tendre to  enter  his  mind  without  a  blush,  has  entertained  an 
indecent  idea."  This  view  is  derived  from  a  somewhat  short- 
sighted reading  of  the  Sentimental  Journey :  the  obvious  Sterne 
of  Tristram  Shandy,  and  the  more  insidiously  concealed  creator 
of  the  Journey  could  hardly  be  characterized  discriminatingly 
by  such  a  statement.  Sterne's  cleverness  consists  not  in  sug- 
gesting his  own  innocence  of  imagination,  but  in  the  skill  with 
which  he  assures  his  reader  that  he  is  master  of  the  situation, 
and  that  no  possible  interpretation  of  the  passage  has  escaped 
his  intelligence.  To  the  Mittelstedt  translation  is  accorded  in 
this  review  the  distinction  of  being,  in  the  rendering  of  certain 
passages,  more  correct  than  Bode's.  A  reviewer  in  the  Hal- 
lische  Nene  Gelehrte  Zeitnng^  treats  of  the  Sentimental  Jour- 
ney in  the  Mittelstedt  translation.  He  is  evidently  unfamiliar 
with  the  original  and  does  not  know  of  Bode's  work,  yet  his 
admiration  is  unbounded,  though  his  critique  is  without  dis- 
tinction or  discrimination.     The  Neue  Critische  Nachrichten^ 

^  III,  pp.  689-91,  October  31,   1768. 

*  V,  No.  s,  p.  37,   1769,  review  is  signed  "Z." 


57 

of  Greifswald  gives  a  review  of  Bode's  rendering  in  which  a 
parallel  with  Shakespeare  is  suggested.  The  original  mingling 
of  instruction  and  waggery  is  commented  upon,  imitation  is 
discouraged,  and  the  work  is  held  up  as  a  test,  through  appre- 
ciation or  failure  to  appreciate,  of  a  reader's  ability  to  follow 
another's  feelings,  to  understand  far-away  hints  and  allusions, 
to  follow  the  tracks  of  an  irregular  and  errant  wit. 

The  Hamburgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent  for  Oc- 
tober 29,  1768,  regards  the  book  in  Bode's  translation  as  an  in- 
dividual, unparalleled  work  of  genius  and  discourses  at  length 
upon  its  beneficent  medicinal  effects  upon  those  whose  minds 
and  hearts  are  perplexed  and  clouded.  The  wanton  passages 
are  acknowledged,  but  the  reviewer  asserts  that  the  author 
must  be  pardoned  them  for  the  sake  of  his  generous  and  kind- 
hearted  thoughts.  The  Mittelstedt  translation  is  also  quoted 
and  parallel  passages  are  adduced  to  demonstrate  the  superior- 
ity of  Bode's  translation. 

The  Germans  naturally  learned  to  know  the  continuation  of 
Eugenius  chiefly  through  Bode's  translation,  designated  as  the 
third  and  fourth  volumes  of  the  work,  and  thus  because  of  the 
sanction  of  the  intermediary,  were  led  to  regard  Stevenson's 
tasteless,  tedious  and  revolting  narrative  with  a  larger  measure 
of  favor  than  would  presumably  have  been  accorded  to  the 
original,  had  it  been  circulated  extensively  in  Germany.  After 
years  the  AUgemeine  Literatur  Zeitung^  implies  incidentally 
that  Bode's  esteeming  this  continuation  worthy  of  his  atten- 
tion is  a  fact  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  judging  its 
merits,  and  states  that  Bode  beautified  it.  Bode's  additions 
and  alterations  were,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  all  directly  along 
the  line  of  the  Yorick  whom  the  Germans  had  made  for  them- 
selves. It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  reviewer  of  these 
two  volumes  of  the  continuation  in  the  Neue  Critische  Nach- 
richten,^  while  recognizing  the  inevitability  of  failure  in  such  a 
bold  attempt,  and  acknowledging  that  the  outward  form  of 
the  work  may  by  its  similarity  be  at  first  glance  seductive,  notes 
two  passages  of  sentiment  "worthy  even  of  a  Yorick," — the 

1  1794,  IV,  p.  62,  October  7. 
^  Greifswald,  VI,  p.  300. 


58 

episode  ''Das  Hiindchen"  and  the  anecdote  of  the  sparrows 
which  the  traveler  shot  in  the  garden:  both  are  additions  on 
Bode's  part,  and  have  no  connection  with  the  original.  The 
reviewer  thus  singled  out  for  especial  approval  two  interpo- 
lations by  the  German  translator,  incidents  which  in  their 
conception  and  narration  have  not  the  true  English  Yorick 
ring. 

The  success  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  increased  the  in- 
terest in  the  incomprehensible  Shandy.  Lange's  new  edition 
of  Ziickert's  translation  has  been  noted,  and  before  long  Bode^ 
was  induced  to  undertake  a  German  rendering  of  the  earlier 
and  longer  novel.  This  translation  was  finished  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1774,  the  preface  being  dated  "End  of  August."  The 
foreword  is  mainly  concerned  with  Goeze's  attack  on  Bode's 
personal  character,  a  thrust  founded  on  Bode's  connection  with 
the  Sentimental  Journey  and  its  continuation.  At  the  close  of 
this  introduction  Bode  says  that,  without  undervaluing  the  in- 
telligence of  his  readers,  he  had  regarded  notes  as  essential, 
but  because  of  his  esteem  for  the  text,  and  a  parental  affection 
for  the  notes,  he  has  foreborne  to  insert  them  here.  "So  they 
still  lie  in  my  desk,  as  many  as  there  are  of  them,  but  upon 
pressing  hints  they  might  be  washed  and  combed,  and  then 
be  published  under  the  title  perhaps  of  a  'Real  und  Verballex- 
icon  iiber  Tristram  Shandy's  Leben  und  Meinungen.'  "  This 
hint  of  a  work  of  his  own,  serving  as  a  commentary  to  Tristram 
Shandy,  has  been  the  occasion  of  some  discussion.  A  reviewer 
in  the  AUgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek/  in  an  account  of  Bode's 
and  Wichmann's  renderings  of  "Tom  Jones,"  begs  Bode  to  ful- 
fill the  hopes  thus  raised,  saying  he  could  give  Yorick's  friends 
no  more  valuable  or  treasured  gift.  Bottiger  in  his  biograph- 
ical sektch  of  Bode  expressed  regret  that  the  work  never  saw 
the  light,  adding  that  the  work  contained  so  many  allusions  to 
contemporary  celebrities  and  hits  upon  Bode's  acquaintance 
that  wisdom  had  consigned  to  oblivion.^  A  correspondent, 
writing  to  the  Teutscher  Merkxir,'^  minimizes  the  importance  of 

^  See  p.  42. 

^Anhang  LIII-LXXXVI.     Vol.  V,  pp.  2611-2614. 

^  This  is  repeated  by  Jordens. 

*  1799-     I.  P-  36. 


59 

this  so-called  commentary,  saying  "er  hatte  nie  einen  Kommen- 
tar  der  Art,  .  .  .  audi  nur  angefangen  auszuarbeiten.  Die 
ganze  Sache  griindet  sich  auf  eine  scherzhafte  Aeusserung 
gegen  seinem  damaligen  Freund  in  Hamburg,  welchen  er  oft 
mit  der  ihm  eignen  Ironie  mit  diesem  Kommentar  zu  drohen 
pflegte." 

The  list  of  subscribers  to  Bode's  translation  contained  up- 
wards of  650  names,  among  which  are  Boie,  Claudius,  Einsie- 
der,  Gerstenberg,  Gleim,  Fraulein  von  Gochhausen,  Goethe, 
Hamann,  Herder,  Hippel,  Jacobi,  Klopstock,  Schummel,  Wie- 
land  (five  copies),  and  Zimmermann.  The  names  of  Ebert  and 
Lessing  are  not  on  the  list.  The  number  of  subscribers  in 
Mitau  (twelve)  is  worthy  of  note,  as  illustrating  the  interest 
in  Sterne  still  keenly  alive  in  this  small  and  far  away  town,  un- 
doubtedly a  direct  result  of  the  admiration  so  lavishly  expressed 
in  other  years  by  Herder,  Hamann  and  their  circle. 

The  translation  was  hailed  then  as  a  masterly  achievement 
of  an  arduous  task,  the  difficulties  of  which  are  only  the  less 
appreciated  because  of  the  very  excellence  of  the  performance. 
It  contrasts  most  strikingly  with  its  clumsy  predecessor  in  its 
approximation  to  Sterne's  deftness  of  touch,  his  delicate  turns 
of  phrase,  his  seemingly  obvious  and  facile,  but  really  delicate 
and  accurate  choice  of  expression.  Ziickert  was  heavy,  com- 
monplace, uncompromisingly  literal  and  bristling  with  inac- 
curacies. Bode's  work  was  unfortunately  not  free  from  errors 
in  spite  of  its  general  excellence,  yet  it  brought  the  book  within 
reach  of  those  who  were  unable  to  read  it  in  English,  and 
preserved,  in  general  with  fidelity,  the  spirit  of  the  original. 
The  reviews  were  prodigal  of  praise.  Wieland's  expressions 
of  admiration  were  full-voiced  and  extensive.^ 

The  Wandsbecker  Bothe  for  October  28,  1774,  asserts  that 
many  readers  in  England  had  not  understood  the  book  as  well 
as  Bode,  a  frequent  expression  of  inordinate  commendation; 
that  Bode  follows  close  on  the  heels  of  Yorick  on  his  most  in- 
timate expeditions.  The  Frankfurter  Gclehrte  Anzeigen^ 
copies   in   full   the   translation   of  the   first   chapter   as   both 

"^Teut.  Merkur,  VIII,  pp.  247-251. 
*  April  21,   177s,  pp.  267-70. 


60 

Ziickert  and  Bode  rendered  it,  and  praises  the  latter  in  unqual- 
ified terms;  Bode  appears  as  ''Yorick's  rescuer."  Several 
years  later,  in  the  Deutsches  Museum,  the  well-known  French 
translation  of  Shandy  by  Frenais  is  denounced  as  intolerable 
(unertraglich)  to  a  German  who  is  acquainted  with  Bode's,^ 
an  opinion  emphasized  later  in  the  same  magazine^  by  Joseph 
von  Retzer.  Indeed,  upon  these  two  translations  from  Sterne 
rests  Bode's  reputation  as  a  translator.  His  "Tom  Jones"  was 
openly  criticised  as  bearing  too  much  of  Sterne,^  so  great  was 
the  influence  of  Yorick  upon  the  translator.  Klamer  Schmidt 
in  a  poem  called  "Klamersruh,  eine  landlich  malerische  Dich- 
tung,"*  dilating  upon  his  favorite  authors  during  a  country 
winter,  calls  Bode  "our  Sterne"  and  "the  ideal  translator," 
and  in  some  verses  by  the  same  poet,  quoted  in  the  article  on 
Bode  in  Schlichtegroll's  "Nekrolog,"^  is  found  a  very  signifi- 
cant stanza  expressing  Sterne's  immeasurable  obligation  to  his 
German  translator : 

"Er  geht  zu  dir  nun,  unser  Bode ! 
Empfang  ihn,  Yoriks  Geist !     Auch  dein 
Erbarmt  er  sich, 
Errettete  vom  Tode 
Der  Uebersetzer  dich!" 

Matthison  in  his  "Gruss  aus  der  Heimath,""  pays  similar 
tribute  in  a  vision  connected  with  a  visit  to  Bode's  resting-place 
in  Weimar.  It  is  a  fanciful  relation :  as  Bode's  shade  is  re- 
ceived with  jubilation  and  delight  in  the  Elysian  Fields  by  Cer- 
vantes, Rabelais,  Montaigne,  Fielding  and  Sterne,  the  latter 
censures  Bode  for  distrusting  his  own  creative  power,  indicat- 
ing that  he  might  have  stood  with  the  group  just  enumerated, 
that  the  fame  of  being  "the  most  excellent  transcriber"  of  his 
age  should  not  have  sufficed. 

In  view  of  all  this  marked  esteem,  it  is  rather  surprising  to 

*  Hirsching  (see  above)   says  it  rivals  the  original. 

'The  references  to  the  Deutsches  Museum  are  respectively  IX,  pp.  273-284, 
April,   1780,  and  X,  pp.   S53-S- 

'See  Jordens  I,  p.  117,  probably  depending  on  the  critique  in  the  Allg.  deutsche 
Bibl.  Anhang,  LIII-LXXXVI,  Vol.  V,  pp.  2611-2614. 

*  Erhohingen  III,  pp.   1-51. 

"  Supplementband  fiir   1790-93,  p.   410. 

*  Werke,  Ziirich,  1825-29,  pp.  312  ff. 


61 

find  a  few  years  later  a  rather  sweeping,  if  apologetic,  attack 
on  the  rendering  of  Shandy.  J.  L.  Benzler,  the  librarian  of 
Graf  Stolberg  at  Wernigerode,  published  in  1801  a  translation 
of  Shandy  which  bore  the  legend  "Newly  translated  into  Ger- 
man," but  was  really  a  new  edition  of  Bode's  work  with  various 
corrections  and  alterations.^  Benzler  claims  in  his  preface  that 
there  had  been  no  translation  of  the  masterpiece  worthy  of  the 
original,  and  this  was  because  the  existing  translation  was  from 
the  pen  of  Bode,  in  whom  one  had  grown  to  see  the  very  ideal 
of  a  translator,  and  because  praise  had  been  so  lavishly  be- 
stowed on  the  work  by  the  critics.  He  then  asserts  that  Bode 
never  made  a  translation  which  did  not  teem  with  mistakes ; 
he  translated  incorrectly  through  insufficient  knowledge  of 
English,  confusing  words  which  sound  alike,  made  his  author 
say  precisely  the  opposite  of  what  he  really  did  say,  was  often 
content  with  the  first  best  at  hand,  with  the  half-right,  and 
often  erred  in  taste ; — a  wholesale  and  vigorous  charge.  After 
such  a  disparagement,  Benzler  disclaims  all  intention  to  be- 
little Bode,  or  his  service,  but  he  condescendingly  ascribes 
Bode's  failure  to  his  lowly  origin,  his  lack  of  systematic  educa- 
tion, and  of  early  association  with  the  cultured  world.  Benzler 
takes  Bode's  work  as  a  foundation  and  rewrites.  Some  of  his 
changes  are  distinctly  advantageous,  and  that  so  few  of 
these  errors  in  Bode's  translation  were  noted  by  contemporary 
critics  is  a  proof  of  their  ignorance  of  the  original,  or  their 
utter  confidence  in  Bode.^  Benzler  in  his  preface  of  justifica- 
tion enumerates  several  extraordinary  blunders"  and  then  con- 
cludes with  a  rather  inconsistent  parting  thrust  at  Bode,  the 
perpetrator  of  such  nonsense,  at  the  critics  who  could  over- 
look such  errors  and  praise  the  work  inordinately,  and  at  the 

^  "Tristram  Shandy's  Leben  und  Meynungen  von  nenem  verdeutscht,  Leipzig, 
1801,  I,  pp.  572;  II,  pp.  532;  III,  pp.  430.  Mit  3  Kupfern  und  3  Vignetten  nach 
Chodowiecki  von  J.  F.  Schroter."  A  new  edition  appeared  at  Hahn's  in  Hanover 
in   1810.     This  translation  is  not  given  by  Goedeke  under  Benzler's  name. 

-  Wieland  does  modify  his  enthusiasm  by  acknowledgment  of  inadequacies  and 
devotes  about  a  page  of  his  long  review  to  the  correction  of  seven  incorrect  ren- 
derings.     TcHt.   Merkur,   VIII,  pp.   247-51,   i774.   IV. 

3  The  following  may  serve  as  examples  of  Bode's  errors.  He  translated,  "Pray, 
what  was  your  father  saying?"  (I,  6)  by  "Was  wollte  denn  Ihr  Vater  damit  sagen?" 
a  rendering  obviously  inadequate.  "It  was  a  little  hard  on  her"  (I,  p.  52)  becomes 
in  Bode,  "Welches  sie  nun  freilich  schwer  ablegen  konnte;"  and  "Great  wits 
jump"    (I,  168)    is  translated   "grosse  Meister  fehlen  auch." 


62 

public  who  ventured  to  speak  with  delight  of  the  work,  know- 
ing it  only  in  such  a  rendering.  Benzler  was  severely  taken 
to  task  in  the  Neue  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bihliothek^  for  his 
shamelessness  in  rewriting  Bode's  translation  with  such  com- 
paratively insignificant  alterations,  for  printing  on  the  title 
page  in  brazen  effrontery  "newly  translated  into  German," 
and  for  berating  Bode  for  his  failure  after  cursing  him  with 
condescension.  Passages  are  cited  to  demonstrate  the  compar- 
ative triviality  of  Benzler's  work.  A  brief  comparison  of  the 
two  translations  shows  that  Benzler  often  translates  more  cor- 
rectly than  his  predecessor,  but  still  more  often  makes  mean- 
ingless alterations  in  word-order,  or  in  trifling  words  where 
nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  such  a  change. 

The  same  year  Benzler  issued  a  similar  revision  of  the  Sen- 
timental Journey,^  printing  again  on  the  title  page  "newly 
translated  into  German."  The  Neue  Allgemeine  deutsche 
Bibliothek^  greets  this  attempt  with  a  similar  tart  review,  con- 
taining parallel  quotations  as  before,  proving  Benzler's  incon- 
siderate presumption.  Here  Benzler  had  to  face  Bode's  asser- 
tion that  both  Lessing  and  Ebert  had  assisted  in  the  work,  and 
that  the  former  had  in  his  kindness  gone  through  the  whole 
book,  Benzler  treats  this  fact  rather  cavalierly  and  renews 
his  attack  on  Bode's  rendering.  Benzler  resented  this  review 
and  replied  to  it  in  a  later  number  of  the  same  periodical.* 

Now  that  a  century  and  more  has  elapsed,  and  personal  acri- 
mony can  no  longer  play  any  part  in  criticism,  one  may  justly 
admit  Benzler's  service  in  calling  attention  to  inaccurate  and 
inadequate  translation,  at  the  same  time  one  must  condemn 
utterly  his  manner  of  issuing  his  emendations.  In  1831  there 
appeared  a  translation  of  Tristram  Shandy  which  was  again 
but  a  revision  of  Bode's  work.  It  bore  on  the  title  page  "Neu 
iibertragen  von  W.  H.,"  and  contained  a  sketch  of  Sterne's 
life.5 

In  the  nineties  there  seemed  to  be  a  renewal  of  Yorick  en- 

^LXXIII.  pp.  ;5-8i. 

"Leipzig,  1801,  8°,  I,  i68;  II,  170.  2  Kupf.  und  2  Vignetten  nach  Chodowiecki 
von  G.  Bottiger. 

"  LXXIX,  pp.  37I-377- 

^LXXXII,  I,  p.   199. 

"Magdeburg,  I,  pp,  188;  II,  pp.  192;  III,  pp.  154;  IV,  pp.  168;  V,  pp.  236. 


63 

thusiasm,  and  at  this  time  was  brought  forth,  at  Halle  in  1794, 
a  profusely  annotated  edition  of  the  Sentimental  Journey/ 
which  was,  according  to  the  anonymous  editor,  a  book  not  to 
be  read,  but  to  be  studied.  Claim  is  made  that  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  book  may  be  discovered  only  after  several  careful 
readings,  that  "empfindsam"  in  some  measure  was  here  used 
in  the  sense  of  philosophical,  that  the  book  should  be  treated  as 
a  work  of  philosophy,  though  clad  in  pleasing  garb ;  that  it 
should  be  thought  out  according  to  its  merits,  not  merely  read. 
Yorick's  failure  to  supply  his  chapters  with  any  significant  or 
alluring  chapter-headings  (probably  the  result  of  indolence  on 
his  part)  is  here  interpreted  as  extraordinary  sagacity,  for  he 
thereby  lessens  the  expectations  and  heightens  the  effect. 
"Eine  Empfindungs-reise"  is  declared  to  be  a  more  suitable 
name  than  "Empfindsame  Reise,"  and  comment  is  made  upon 
the  purpose  of  the  Journey,  the  gathering  of  material  for  ana- 
tomical study  of  the  human  heart.  The  notes  are  numerous 
and  lengthy,  constituting  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the  book,  but 
are  replete  with  padding,  pointless  babble  and  occasional 
puerile  inaccuracies.  They  are  largely  attempts  to  explain  and 
to  moralize  upon  Yorick's  emotions, — a  verbose,  childish,  wit- 
less commentary.  The  Wortregister  contains  fourteen  pages 
in  double  columns  of  explanations,  in  general  differing  very 
little  from  the  kind  of  information  given  in  the  notes.  The 
Allgemeine  Litter atur  Zeitung-  devotes  a  long  review  chiefly 
to  the  explanation  of  the  errors  in  this  volume,  not  the  least 
striking  of  which  is  the  explanation  of  the  reference  to  Smel- 
fungus,  whom  everyone  knows  to  have  been  Smollett:  "This 
learned  Smelfungus  appears  to  have  written  nothing  but  the 
Journey  which  is  here  mentionad."^  As  an  explanation  of  the 
initial  "H"  used  by  Sterne  for  Hume,  the  note  is  given,  "The 
author  'H'  was  perhaps  a  poor  one."^ 

Sterne's  letters  were  issued  first  in  London  in  1775,  a  rather 
surprisingly  long  time  after  his  death,  when  one  considers  how 

1 A    Sentimental    Journey,    mit    erlauternden    Anmerkungen    und    einem    Wort- 
register. 

2  Jena,  1795,  II,  pp.   427-30. 

"  P.  49. 

*The  edition  is  also  reviewed  in  the  Erfurtische  Gelehrte  Zeitung  (1796,  p.  294-) 


64 

great  was  Yorick's  following.  According  to  the  prefatory  note 
of  Lydia  Sterne  de  Medalle  in  the  collection  which  she  edited 
and  published,  it  was  the  wish  of  Mrs.  Sterne  that  the  corre- 
spondence of  her  husband,  which  was  in  her  possession,  be  not 
given  to  the  world,  unless  other  letters  bearing  his  name  should 
be  published.  This  hesitation  on  her  part  must  be  interpreted 
in  such  a  way  as  to  cast  a  favorable  light  on  this  much 
maligned  gentlewoman,  as  a  delicate  reticence  on  her  part,  a 
desire  to  retain  these  personal  documents  for  herself.^  The 
power  of  this  sentiment  must  be  measured  by  her  refrain- 
ing from  publishing  during  the  five  years  which  intervened 
between  her  husband's  death  and  her  own,  March,  1768  to  Jan- 
uary, 1773 — years  which  were  embittered  by  the  distress  of 
straitened  circumstances.  It  will  be  remembered  that  an  effort 
was  made  by  Mrs.  Sterne  and  her  daughter  to  retrieve  their 
fortunes  by  a  life  of  Sterne  which  was  to  be  a  collaboration  by 
Stevenson  and  Wilkes,  and  urgent  indeed  was  Lydia  Sterne's 
appeal  to  these  friends  of  her  father  to  fulfill  their  promises 
and  lend  their  aid.  Even  when  this  hope  had  to  be  abandoned 
early  in  1770,  through  the  faithlessness  of  Sterne's  erstwhile 
companions,  the  widow  and  daughter  turned  to  other  possi- 
bilities rather  than  to  the  correspondence,  though  in  the  latter 
lay  a  more  assured  means  of  accomplishing  a  temporary  revival 
of  their  prosperity.  This  is  an  evidence  of  fine  feeling  on  the 
part  of  Sterne's  widow,  with  which  she  has  never  been  duly 
credited. 

But  an  anonymous  editor  published  early  in  1775^  a  volume 
entitled  "Letters  from  Yorick  to  Eliza,"  a  brief  little  collection, 
the  source  of  which  has  never  been  clear,  but  whose  genuine- 
ness has  never  been  questioned.  The  editor  himself  waives  all 
claim  to  proof  "which  might  be  drawn  concerning  their  au- 
thenticity from  the  character  of  the  gentleman  who  had  the 
perusal  of  them,  and  with  Eliza's  permission,  faithfully  copied 
them  at  Bombay." 

^  The  threat  of  Mrs.  Sterne  and  her  daughter  to  publish  the  letters  to  Mrs. 
Draper  would  seem  to  be  at  variance  with  this  idea  of  Mrs.  Sterne's  character,  but 
her  resentment  or  indignation,  and  a  personal  satisfaction  at  her  former  rival's 
discomfiture  are   inevitable,  and   femininely  human. 

-  They  are  reviewed  in  the  April  number  of  the  Monthly  Review  (LII,  pp.  370- 
371,  and  in  the  April  number  of  the  London  Magasine  (XLIV,  pp.  200-201). 


65 

In  July  of  this  same  year^  was  published  a  volume  entitled 
"Sterne's  Letters  to  His  Friends  on  Various  Occasions,  to 
which  is  added  his  History  of  a  Watchcoat  with  Explanatory 
Notes,"  containing  twelve  letters  (one  by  Dr.  Eustace)  and  the 
watchcoat  story.  Some  of  these  letters  had  appeared  pre- 
viously in  British  magazines,  and  one,  copied  from  the  London 
Mamsine,  was  translated  in  the  Wandshecker  Bothe  for  April 

1 6,  1774.^  A  translation  of  the  same  letter  was  given  in  the 
Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitungen,  1774,  pp.  286-7.  Three  of 
these  letters  only  are  accepted  by  Prof.  Saintsbury  (Nos.  7,  124, 
the  letter  of  Dr.  Eustace,  and  125).  Of  the  others,  Nos.  4-1 1 
have  been  judged  as  of  doubtful  authenticity.  Two  of  them, 
Nos.  II  and  12  ("I  beheld  her  tender  look"  and  'T  feel  the 
weight  of  obligation")  are  in  the  standard  ten- volume  edition 
of  Sterne,^  but  the  last  letter  is  probably  spurious  also. 

The  publication  of  the  letters  from  Yorick  to  Eliza  was  the 
justification  afforded  Lydia  Sterne  de  Medalle  for  issuing  her 
father's  correspondence  according  to  her  mother's  request :  the 
other  volume  was  not  issued  till  after  it  was  known  that 
Sterne's  daughter  was  engaged  in  the  task  of  collecting  and 
editing  his  correspondence.  Indeed,  the  editor  expressly 
states  in  his  preface  that  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  book  to 
forestall  Mme.  Medalle's  promised  collection;  that  the  letters 
in  this  volume  are  not  to  be  printed  in  hers.*  Mme.  Medalle 
added  to  her  collection  the  "Fragment  in  the  manner  of  Rabe- 
lais" and  the  invaluable,  characteristic  scrap  of  autobiography, 
which  was  written  particularly  for  "my  Lydia."     The  work 

'  It  is  noted  among  the  publications  in  the  July  number  of  the  London  Magazine, 
XLIV,  p.  371,  and  is  reviewed  in  the  September  number  of  the  Monthly  Review, 
LIII,  pp.   266-267.     It  was  really  published  on  July   12.      {The  Nation,   November 

17,  1904.) 

2  The  letter  beginning  "The  first  time  I  have  dipped  my  pen  in  the  ink-horn," 
addressed  to  Mrs.  M-d-s  and  dated  Coxwould,  July  21,  1765.  The  London  Magazine 
(177s.  PP-  530-531)  also  published  the  eleventh  letter  of  the  series,  that  concerning 
the  unfortunate  Harriet:     "I  beheld  her  tender  look." 

^Dodsley,  etc.,  1793. 

*  Two  letters,  however,  were  given  in  both  volumes,  the  letter  to  Mrs.  M-d-s, 
"The  first  time  I  have  dipped,"  etc.,  and  that  to  Garrick,  "  'Twas  for  all  the  world 
like  a  cut,"  etc.,  being  in  the  Mme.  Medalle  collection,  Nos.  58  and  77  (II,  pp.  126- 
131,  188-192)  and  in  the  anonymous  collection  Nos.  1  and  5.  The  first  of  these  two 
letters  was  without  indication  of  addressee  in  the  anonymous  collection,  and  was 
later  directed  to  Eugenius  (in  the  American  edition,  Harrisburg,  1805). 
5 


66 

appeared  at  Becket's  in  three  volumes,  and  the  dedication  to 
Garrick  was  dated  June,  1775  ;  but,  as  the  notice  in  the  Monthly 
Revieiv  for  October^  asserts  that  they  have  "been  pubHshed 
but  a  few  days,"  this  date  probably  represents  the  time  of  the 
completion  of  the  task,  or  the  inception  of  the  printer's  work.^ 
During  the  same  year  the  spurious  letters  from  Eliza  to  Yorick 
were  issued. 

Naturally  Sterne's  letters  found  readers  in  Germany,  the 
Yorick-Eliza  correspondence  being  especially  calculated  to 
awaken  response.^  The  English  edition  of  the  "Letters  from 
Yorick  to  Eliza"  was  reviewed  in  the  Neue  Bibliothek  der 
schdnen  Wissenschaften,'^  with  a  hint  that  the  warmth  of  the 
letters  might  easily  lead  to  a  suspicion  of  unseemly  relationship, 
but  the  reviewer  contends  that  virtue  and  rectitude  are  pre- 
served in  the  midst  of  such  extraordinary  tenderness,  so  that 
one  may  interpret  it  as  a  Platonic  rather  than  a  sensual  affec- 
tion. Yet  this  review  cannot  be  designated  as  distinctive  of 
German  opinion,  for  it  contains  no  opinion  not  directly  to  be 
derived  from  the  editor's  foreword,  and  that  alone ;  indeed,  the 
wording  suggests  decidedly  that  source.  The  Gothaische 
Gelehrte  Zeitung^  for  April  15,  1775,  reviews  the  same  English 
edition,  but  the  notice  consists  of  an  introductory  statement  of 
Eliza's  identity  and  translation  of  parts  of  three  letters,  the 
"Lord  Bathurst  letter,"  the  letter  involving  the  criticism  of 
EHza's  portraits,*'  and  the  last  letter  to  Eliza.  The  translation 
is  very  weak,  abounding  in  elementary  errors ;  for  example, 
"She  has  got  your  picture  and  likes  it"  becomes  "Sie  hat  Ihr 
Bildniss  gemacht,  es  ist  ahnlich,"  and  "I  beheld  you  ...  as  a 
very  plain  woman"  is  rendered  "und  hielt  Sie  fiir  nichts  anders 

1  LIII,  pp.  340-344.  The  publication  was  October  25.  See  The  Nation,  Novem- 
ber 17,  1904. 

2  The  London  Magazine  gives  the  first  announcement  among  the  books  for  Oc- 
tober (Vol.  XLVI,  p.  538),  but  does  not  review  the  collection  till  December 
(XLIV,   p.   649). 

^  Some  selections  from  these  letters  were  evidently  published  before  their 
translation  in  the  Englische  Allgemeine  Bibliothek.  See  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ans., 
1775,  p.  667. 

*  XVIII,  p.   :77,  1775. 
'  1775.  I.  PP-  243-246. 

•  Letters  Nos.  83   and  86. 


67 

als  eine  Frau."  The  same  journal,^  August  5,  reviews  the 
second  collection  of  Sterne's  letters,  but  there  is  no  criticism, 
merely  an  introductory  statement  taken  from  the  preface,  and 
the  translation  of  two  letters,  the  one  to  Mistress  V.,  "Of  two 
bad  cassocs,  fair  lady,"  and  the  epistle  beginning,  "I  snatch  half 
an  hour  while  my  dinner  is  getting  ready."  The  Gottingische 
Gelehrte  Anzeigen,  1776,  p.  382,  also  gives  in  a  review  informa- 
tion concerning  this  anonymous  collection,  but  no  criticism. 

One  would  naturally  look  to  Hamburg  for  translations  of 
these  epistles.  In  the  very  year  of  their  appearance  in  England 
we  find  "Yorick's  Briefe  an  Eliza,"  Hamburg,  bey  C.  E.  Bohn, 
1775  f  "Briefe  von  Eliza  an  Yorick,"  Hamburg,  bey  Bode, 
1775;  and  "Briefe  von  (Yorick)  Sterne  an  seine  Freunde  nebst 
seiner  Geschichte  eines  Ueberrocks,"  Hamburg,  bey  Bohn,  1775. 
The  translator's  name  is  not  given,  but  there  is  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  it  was  the  faithful  Bode,  though  only  the  first 
volume  is  mentioned  in  Jordens'  account  of  him,  and  under  his 
name  in  Goedeke's  "Grundriss."  Contemporary  reviewers 
attributed  all  three  books  to  Bode,  and  internal  evidence  goes  to 
prove  it.^ 

The  first  volume  contains  no  translator's  preface,  and  the 
second,  the  spurious  Eliza  letters,  only  a  brief  footnote  to  the 
translation  of  the  English  preface.  In  this  note  Bode's  iden- 
tity is  evident  in  the  following  quotation:  He  says  he  has 
translated  the  letters  "because  I  believe  that  they  will  be  read 
with  pleasure,  and  because  I  fancy  I  have  a  kind  of  vocation  to 
give  in  German  everything  that  Sterne  has  written,  or  what- 
ever has  immediate  relation  to  his  writings."  This  note  is 
dated  Hamburg,  September  16,  1775.  In  the  third  volume, 
the  miscellaneous  collection,  there  is  a  translator's  preface  in 
which  again  Bode's  hand  is  evident.  He  says  he  knows  by  sure 
experience  that  Sterne's  writings  find  readers  in  Germany;  he 
is  assured  of  the  authenticity  of  the  letters,  but  is  in  doubt 
whether  the  reader  is  possessed  of  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 

1  177s,  II,  p.  sio. 

^  This  volume  was  noted  by  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gelehrten  Sachen,  Septem- 
ber, 4,   1775. 

'A  writer  in  SchlichtegroU's  "Nekrolog"  says  that  Bode's  own  letters  to  "einige 
seiner  vertrauten  Freundinnen"  in  some  respects  surpass  those  of  Yorick  to  Eliza. 


68 

attending  circumstances  to  render  intelligible  the  allusion  of  the 
watchcoat  story.  To  forfend  the  possibility  of  such  dubious 
appreciation,  the  account  of  the  watchcoat  episode  is  copied 
word  for  word  from  Bode's  introduction  to  the  "Empfindsame 
Reise."^ 

In  this  same  year,  an  unknown  translator  issued  in  a  single 
volume  a  rendering  of  these  three  collections.^  The  following 
year  Mme.  Medalle's  collection  was  brought  out  in  Leipzig  in 
an  anonymous  translation,  which  has  been  attributed  to  Chris- 
tian Felix  Weisse.^  Its  title  was  "Lorenz  Sterne's  Briefe  an 
seine  vertrautesten  Freunde  nebst  einem  Fragment  im  Ge- 
schmack  des  Rabelais  und  einer  von  ihm  selbst  verfassten 
Nachricht  von  seinem  Leben  und  seiner  Familie,  herausgegeben 
von  seiner  Tochter  Mad.  Medalle,"  Leipzig,  1776,  pp.  xxviii, 
391.     Weidmanns  Erben  und  Reich. 

Bode's  translation  of  Yorick's  letters  to  Eliza  is  reviewed  in 
the  Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitiing,  August  9,  1775,  with  quota- 
tion of  the  second  letter  in  full.  The  same  journal  notes  the 
translation  of  the  miscellaneous  collection,  November  4,  1775, 
giving  in  full  the  letter  of  Dr.  Eustace  and  Sterne's  reply.* 
The  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek^  reviews  together  the  three 
Hamburg  volumes  (Bode)  and  the  Leipzig  volume  containing 
the  same  letters.  The  utter  innocence,  the  unquestionably  Pla- 
tonic character  of  the  relations  between  Yorick  and  Eliza  is 
accepted  fully.  With  keen,  critical  judgment  the  reviewer  is 
inclined  to  doubt  the  originality  of  the  Eliza  letters.  Two  let- 
ters by  Yorick  are  mentioned  particularly,  letters  which  bear 
testimony  to  Yorick's  practical  benevolence:  one  describing  his 
efiforts  in  behalf  of  a  dishonored  maiden,  and  one  concerning 
the  old  man  who  fell  into  financial  difficulties.^     Both  the  trans- 

^  Another  translator  would  in  this  case  have  made  direct  acknowledgment  to 
Bode  for  the  borrowed  information,  a  fact  indicating  Bode  as  the  translator  of  the 
volume. 

'  "Lorenz  Sterne's  oder  Yorick's  Briefwechsel  mit  Elisen  und  seinen  iibrigen 
Freunden."     Leipzig,  Weidmanns  Erben  und  Reich.  177s,  8°. 

^  Weisse  is  credited  with  the  translation  in  Kayser,  but  it  is  not  given  under 
his  name  in  Goedeke. 

*  References  to  the  Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitung  are  p.  518  and  p.  721,   1775. 

» XXVIII,  2,  p.  489,   1776. 

'These  are,  of  course,  the  spurious  letters  Nos.  8  and  11,  "I  beheld  her  tender 
look"  and  "I  have  not  been   a  furlong  from   Shandy-Hall." 


69 

lations  win  approval,  but  Bode's  is  preferred ;  they  are  desig- 
nated as  doubtless  his.  The  "Briefe  an  Elisa"  (Bode's  trans- 
lation) are  noticed  in  the  Frankfurter  Gelehrte  Anzeigen,  Oc- 
tober 3  and  6,  1775,  with  unrestrained  praise  of  the  translator, 
and  vigorous  asseveration  of  their  authenticity.  It  is  recog- 
nized fully  that  the  relation  as  disclosed  was  extraordinary 
among  married  people,  even  Sterne's  amazing  statement  con- 
cerning the  fragile  obstacles  which  stood  in  the  way  of  their  de- 
sires is  noted.  Yet  the  Yorick  of  these  letters  is  accorded  un- 
disguised admiration.  His  love  is  exalted  above  that  of  Swift 
for  Stella,  Waller  for  Sacharissa,  Scarron  for  Maintenon,^  and 
his  godly  fear  as  here  exhibited  is  cited  to  offset  the  outspoken 
avowal  of  dishonoring  desire.-  Hamann  in  a  letter  to  Herder, 
June  26,  1780,  speaks  of  the  Yorick-Eliza  correspondence  quite 
disparagingly.^ 

In  1787  another  volume  of  Sterne  letters  was  issued  in  Lon- 
don, giving  English  and  German  on  opposite  pages.*  There 
are  but  six  letters  and  all  are  probably  spurious. 

In  1780  there  was  published  a  volume  of  confessedly  spuri- 
ous letters  entitled  "Briefe  von  Yorick  und  Elisen,  wie  sie 
zwischen  ihnen  konnten  geschrieben  werden."^  The  introduc- 
tion contains  some  interesting  information  for  the  determina- 
tion of  the  genuineness  of  the  Sterne  letters.^  The  editor 
states  that  the  author  had  written  these  letters  purely  as  a  di- 
version, that  the  editor  had  proposed  their  publication,  but  was 
always  met  with  refusal  until  there  appeared  in  London  a 
little  volume  of  letters  which  their  editor  emphatically  declared 
to  be  genuine.  This  is  evidently  the  volume  published  by  the 
anonymous  editor  in  1775,  and  our  present  editor  declares  that 

^  This  is  a  quotation  from  one  of  the  letters,  but  the  review  repeats  it  as  its  own. 

'  For  a  rather  unfavorable  criticism  of  the  Yorick-Eliza  letters,  see  letter  of 
Wilh.  Ludw.  Medicus  to  Hopfner,  March  i6,  1776,  in  "Briefe  aus  dem  Freundes- 
kreise  von  Goethe,  Herder,  Hopfner  und  Merck,"  ed.  by  K.  Wagner,  Leipzig,   1847. 

'  Hamann's  Schriften,  ed.  by  Roth,  VI,  p.  145:  "Yorick's  und  Elisens  Briefe 
sind  nicht  der  Rede  werth." 

*  London,  Thomas  Cornan,  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  8°,  pp.  63.  These  letters  are 
given  in  the  first  American  edition,   Harrisburg,   1805,  pp.  209-218  and  222-226. 

°  Leipzig,  Weidmanns  Erben  und  Reich,   I,  pp.    142;   II,  pp.   150. 

'The  English  original  is  probably  that  by  William  Combe,  published  in  1779, 
two  volumes.  This  original  is  reviewed  in  the  Ncue  Bibl.  der  schonen  IVissen- 
schaften,  XXIV,  p.   186,   1780. 


70 

he  knows  Nos.  4-10  were  from  the  same  pen  as  the  present 
confessedly  spurious  collection.  They  were  mere  efforts  orig- 
inally, but,  published  in  provincial  papers,  found  their  way  into 
other  journals,  and  the  editor  goes  on  to  say,  that,  to  his  as- 
tonishment, he  saw  one  of  these  epistles  included  in  Lydia 
Medalle's  collection.  This  is,  of  course,  No.  5,  the  one  begin- 
ning, "The  first  time  I  have  dipped  my  pen  in  the  ink-horn." 
These  events  induced  the  author  to  allow  the  publication.  The 
book  itself  consists  mostly  of  a  kind  of  diary  kept  by  Yorick  to 
send  to  Eliza  at  Madeira  and  later  to  India,  and  a  correspond- 
ing journal  written  by  Eliza  on  the  vessel  and  at  Madeira. 

Yorick's  sermons  were  inevitably  less  potent  in  their  appeal, 
and  the  editions  and  translations  were  less  numerous.  In  spite 
of  obvious  effort,  Sterne  was  unable  to  infuse  into  his  homilet- 
ical  discourses  any  considerable  measure  of  genuine  Shande- 
ism,  and  his  sermons  were  never  as  widely  popular  as  his  two 
novels,  either  among  those  who  sought  him  for  whimsical  pas- 
time or  for  sentimental  emotion.  They  were  sermons.  The 
early  Swiss  translation  has  been  duly  noted. 

The  third  volume  of  the  Ziirich  edition,  which  appeared  in 
1769,  contained  the  "Reden  an  Esel,"  which  the  reviewer  in  the 
Allgemeine  deutsche  Bihliothek^  with  acute  penetration  desig- 
nates as  spurious.  Another  translation  of  these  sermons  was 
published  at  Leipzig,  according  to  the  editor  of  a  later  edition^ 
(Thorn,  1795),  in  the  same  year  as  the  Zurich  issue,  1769. 

The  Berlinische  Monatsschrift^  calls  attention  to  the  excel- 
lence of  the  work  and  quotes  the  sermons  at  considerable 
length.  The  comment  contains  the  erroneous  statement  that 
Sterne  was  a  dissenter,  and  opposed  to  the  established  church. 
The  translation  published  at  Thorn  in  1795,  evidently  building 
on  this  information,  continues  the  error,  and,  in  explanation  of 
English  church  affairs,  adds  as  enlightenment  the  thirty-nine 
articles.  This  translation  is  confessedly  a  working-over  of  the 
Leipzig  translation  already  mentioned.     It  is  difficult  to  dis- 

'XII,  I,  pp.  210-211.  Doubt  is  also  suggested  in  the  Hallische  Neue  Gelehrte 
Zeitungen,   1769,  IV,  p.  295. 

'Reviewed  in  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,  1798,  II,  p.  14,  without  suggestion  of  doubtful 
authenticity. 

^XX,  pp.  79-103,  1792. 


71 

cover  how  these  sermons  ever  became  attached  to  Sterne's 
name,  and  one  can  hardly  explain  the  fact  that  such  a  maga- 
zine as  the  Berlinischc  Monatsschriff^  should  at  that  late  date 
publish  an  article  so  flatly  contradictory  to  everything  for 
which  Sterne  stood,  so  diametrically  opposed  to  his  career,  save 
with  the  understanding  that  gross  ignorance  attended  the  orig- 
inal introduction  and  early  imitation  of  Yorick,  and  that  this 
incomprehension,  or  one-sided  appreciation  of  the  real  Sterne 
persisted  in  succeeding  decades.  The  German  Yorick  was  the 
champion  of  the  oppressed  and  downtrodden.  The  author  of 
the  "Sermons  to  Asses"  appeared  as  such  an  opponent  of 
coercion  and  arbitrary  power  in  church  and  state,  an  upholder 
of  human  rights ;  hence,  possibly,  the  authorship  of  this  book 
was  attributed  to  Sterne  by  something  the  same  process  as 
that  which,  in  the  age  of  heroic  deeds,  associated  a  miscel- 
laneous collection  of  performances  with  a  popular  hero.  The 
"Sermons  to  Asses"  were  written  by  Rev.  James  Murray 
(1732-1782),  a  noted  dissenting  minister,  long  pastor  of  High 
Bridge  Chapel  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  They  were  published 
in  London  in  1768  and  dedicated  to  G,  W.,  J.  W.,  W.  R.  and 
M.  M. — George  Whitfield,  John  Wesley,  William  Romaine  and 
Martin  Madan.  The  English  people  are  represented  as  bur- 
den-bearing asses  laden  with  oppression  in  the  shape  of  taxes 
and  creeds.-  They  are  directed  against  the  power  of  the  es- 
tablished church.  It  is  needless  to  state  that  England  never 
associated  these  sermons  with  Sterne.^  The  English  edition 
was  also  briefly  reviewed  in  the  Hamburgische  Adress-Comp- 
toir-Nachrichten*  without  connecting  the  work  with  Sterne. 

^  They  are  still  credited  to  Sterne,  though  with  admitted  doubt,  in  Hirsching 
(1809).  It  would  seem  from  a  letter  of  Hamann's  that  Germany  also  thrust  an- 
other work  upon  Sterne.  The  letter  is  directed  to  Herder:  "Ich  habe  die 
nichtswiirdige  Grille  gehabt  einen  unformlichen  Auszug  einer  englischen  Apologie 
des  Rousseau,  die  den  Sterne  zum  Verfasser  haben  soil,  in  die  Konigsberger  Zcitung 
einflicken  zu  lassen."  See  Hamann's  Schriften,  Roth's  edition,  III,  p.  374.  Letter 
is  dated  July  29,  1767.  Rousseau  is  mentioned  in  Shandy,  III,  p.  200,  but  there  is 
no  reason  to  believe  that  he  ever  wrote  anything  about  him. 

^  The  edition  examined  is  that  of  William  Howe,  London,  1819,  which  contains 
"New  Sermons  to  Asses,"  and  other  sermons  by  Murray. 

'For  reviews  see  Monthly  Review,  1768,  Vol.  XXXIX,  pp.  100-105;  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  Vol.  XXXVIII,  p.  188  (April).  They  were  thus  evidently  published 
early  in  the  year   1768. 

*  1768,  p.  220. 


72 

The  error  was  made  later,  possibly  by  the  translator  of  the 
Zurich  edition. 

The  new  collection  of  Sterne's  sermons  pubHshed  by  Cadell 
in  1769,  Vols.  V,  VI,  VII,  is  reviewed  by  Unterhaltungen.^ 
A  selection  from  Sterne's  sermon  on  the  Prodigal  Son  was 
published  in  translation  in  the  Hamhurgische  Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichten  for  April  13,  1768.  The  new  collection  of  ser- 
mons was  translated  by  A.  E.  Klausing  and  published  at 
Leipzig  in  1770,  containing  eighteen  sermons.^ 

Both  during  Sterne's  life  and  after  his  death  books  were 
published  claiming  him  as  their  author.  In  England  contem- 
porary criticism  generally  stigmatized  these  impertinent  at- 
tempts as  dubious,  or  undoubtedly  fraudulent.  The  spurious 
ninth  volume  of  Shandy  has  been  mentioned.^  The  "Sermons 
to  Asses"  just  mentioned  also  belong  here,  and,  with  reserva- 
tion, also  Stevenson's  continuation  of  the  Sentimental  Jour- 
ney, with  its  claim  to  recognition  through  the  continuator's 
statement  of  his  relation  to  Yorick.  There  remain  also  a  few 
other  books  which  need  to  be  mentioned  because  they  were 
translated  into  German  and  played  their  part  there  in  shaping 
the  German  idea  of  Yorick.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that 
German  criticism  was  never  acute  in  judging  these  products, 
partially  perhaps  because  they  were  viewed  through  the  me- 
dium of  an  imperfectly  mastered  foreign  tongue,  a  mediocre 
or  an  adapted  translation.  These  books  obtained  relatively  a 
much  more  extensive  recognition  in  Germany  than  in  Eng- 
land, 

In  1769  a  curious  conglomerate  was  brought  over  and  is- 
sued under  the  lengthy  descriptive  title :  "Yoricks  Betrachtun- 
gen  liber  verschiedene  wichtige  und  angenehme  Gegenstande. 
Memlich  uber  Nichts,  Ueber  Etwas,  Ueber  das  Ding,  Ueber  die 
Regierung,  Ueber  den  Toback,  Ueber  die  Nasen,  Ueber  die 
Quaksalber,  Ueber  die  Hebammen,  Ueber  den  Homunculus, 
Ueber  die  Steckenpferde,  Ueber  das  Momusglas,  Ueber  die 
Ausschweifungen,  Ueber  die  Dunkelkeit  im  Schreiben,  Ueber 

'VII,  p.   360. 

^Review  in  Allg.  deutsche  Bihl.,  XIII,  i,  p.  241.  The  reviewer  is  inclined  to 
doubt  their  authenticity. 

*A  spurious  third  volume  v.as  the  work  of  John  Carr  (1760). 


73 

den  Unsinn,  Ueber  die  Verbindung  der  Ideen,  Ueber  die 
Hahnreiter,  Ueber  den  Mann  in  dem  Monde,  Ueber 
Lcibnitzens  Monaden,  Ueber  das  was  man  Vertu  nennt,  Ueber 
das  Gewissen,  Ueber  die  Trunkenheit,  Ueber  den  Nachtstuhl, 
Betrachtungen  iiber  Betrachtungen. — neque — cum  lectulus, 
aut  me  Porticus  excepit,  desum  mihi,  Horat."  Frankfurt  und 
Leipzig,  1769,  8°.  The  book  purported  to  be  a  collection  of 
Sterne's  earliest  lucubrations,  and  the  translator  expresses  his 
astonishment  that  no  one  had  ever  translated  them  before,  al- 
though they  were  first  issued  in  1760.  It  is  without  doubt  the 
translation  of  an  English  volume  entitled  "Yorick's  Meditations 
upon  interesting  and  important  subjects,"  published  by  Stevens 
in  London,  1760.^  It  had  been  forgotten  in  England  long  be- 
fore some  German  chanced  upon  it.  The  preface  closes  with 
a  long  doggerel  rhyme,  which,  the  translator  says,  he  has  pur- 
posely left  untranslated.  It  is,  however,  beyond  the  shadow  of 
a  doubt  original  with  him,  as  its  contents  prove.  Yorick  in  the 
Elysian  Fields  is  supposed  to  address  himself,  he  "anticipates 
his  fate  and  perceives  beforehand  that  at  least  one  German 
critic  would  deem  him  worthy  of  his  applause." 

"Go  on,  poor  Yorik,  try  once  more 
In  German  Dress,  thy  fate  of  yore, 
Expect  few  Critics,  such,  as  by 
The  bucket  of  Philosophy 
From  out  the  bottom  of  the  well 
May  draw  the  Sense  of  what  you  tell 
And  spy  what  wit  and  Morals  sound 
Are  in  thy  Rambles  to  be  found." 

After  a  passage  in  which  the  rhymester  enlarges  upon  the  prob- 
ability of  distorted  judgment,  he  closes  with  these  lines: 

"Dire  Fate !  but  for  all  that  no  worse. 
You  shall  be  WIELAND'S  Hobby-Horse, 
So  to  HIS  candid  Name,  unbrib'd 
These  meditations  be  inscrib'd." 

This  was  at  the  time  of  Wieland's  early  enthusiasm,  when  he 
was  probably  contemplating,  if  not  actually  engaged  upon  a 
translation  of  Tristram  Shandy.     "Thy  fate  of  yore"  in  the 

1  See  Monthly  Reviezc,  XXIII,  p.  84,  July  1760,  and  London  Magazine,  Monthly 
Catalogue  for  July  and  August,  1760.     Scott's  Magazine,  XXII,  p.  389,  July,   1760. 


74 

second  line  is  evidently  a  poetaster's  acceptation  of  an  obvious 
rhvme  and  does  not  set  Yorick's  German  experience  appreci- 
ably into  the  past.  The  translator  supplies  frequent  footnotes 
explaining  the  allusions  to  things  specifically  English.  He 
makes  occasional  comparison  with  German  conditions,  always 
with  the  claim  that  Germany  is  better  ofif,  and  needs  no  such 
satire.  The  Hallische  Neue  Gelehrte  Zeitungen  for  June  i, 
1769,  devotes  a  review  of  considerable  length  to  this  transla- 
tion ;  in  it  the  reviewer  asserts  that  one  would  have  recognized 
the  father  of  this  creation  even  if  Yorick's  name  had  not  stood 
on  its  forehead ;  that  it  closely  resembles  its  fellows  even  if  one 
must  place  it  a  degree  below  the  Journey.  The  Allgemeine 
Deutsche  Bihliothek^  throws  no  direct  suspicion  on  the  authen- 
ticity, but  with  customary  insight  and  sanity  of  criticism  finds 
in  this  early  work  "a  great  deal  that  is  insipid  and  affected." 
The  Deutsche  Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften,  how- 
ever, in  a  review  which  shows  a  keen  appreciation  of  Sterne's 
style,  openly  avows  an  inclination  to  question  the  authenticity, 
save  for  the  express  statement  of  the  translator;  the  latter  it 
agrees  to  trust.-  The  book  is  placed  far  below  the  Sentimental 
Journey,  below  Shandy  also,  but  far  above  the  artificial  tone  of 
many  other  writers  then  popular.  This  relative  ordering  of 
Sterne's  works  is  characteristic  of  German  criticism.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  review  its  author  seizes  on  a  mannerism,  the 
exaggerated  use  of  which  emphatically  sunders  the  book  from 
the  genuine  Sterne,  the  monotonous  repetition  of  the  critic's 
protests  and  Yorick's  verbal  conflicts  with  them.  Sterne 
himself  used  this  device  frequently,  but  guardedly,  and  in  ever- 
changing  variety.  Its  careless  use  betrays  the  mediocre  imita- 
tor.3 

The  more  famous  Koran  was  also  brought  to  German  ter- 
ritory and  enjoyed  there  a  recognition  entirely  beyond  that  ac- 
corded it  in  England.  This  book  was  first  given  to  the  world 
in  London  as  the  "Posthumous  Works  of  a  late  celebrated 

i.XlV,  2,  p.  621. 

2  But  in  a  later  review  in  the  same  periodical  (V,  p.  726)  this  book,  though  not 
mentioned  by  name,  yet  clearly  meant,  is  mentioned  with  very  decided  expression 
of  doubt.     The  review  quoted  above  is  III,  p.   737.      1769. 

'This  work  was  republished  in  Braunschweig  at  the  Schulbuchhandlung  in  1789. 


75 

Genius  deceased  ;"^  a  work  in  three  parts,  bearing  the  further 
title,  "The  Koran,  or  the  Life,  Character  and  Sentiments  of 
Tria  Juncta  in  Uno,  M.  N.  A.,  Master  of  No  Arts."  Richard 
Griffith  was  probably  the  real  author,  but  it  was  included  in  the 
first  collected  edition  of  Sterne's  works,  published  in  Dublin, 
1779.-  The  work  purports  to  be,  in  part,  an  autobiography  of 
Sterne,  in  which  the  late  writer  lays  bare  the  secrets  of  his  life, 
his  early  debauchery,  his  father's  unworthiness,  his  profligate 
uncle,  the  ecclesiastic,  and  the  beginning  of  his  literary  career 
by  advertising  for  hack  work  in  London,  being  in  all  a  confused 
mass  of  impossible  detail,  loose  notes  and  disconnected  opinion, 
which  contemporary  English  reviews  stigmatize  as  manifestly 
spurious,  "an  infamous  attempt  to  palm  the  united  efifusions  of 
dullness  and  indecency  upon  the  world  as  the  genuine  produc- 
tion of  the  late  Mr.  Sterne."^ 

In  France  the  book  was  accepted  as  genuine  and  it  was  trans- 
lated (1853)  by  Alfred  Hedouin  as  an  authentic  work  of 
Sterne.  In  Germany,  too,  it  seems  to  have  been  recognized 
with  little  questioning  as  to  its  genuineness ;  even  in  recent 
years  Robert  Springer,  in  an  article  treating  of  Goethe's  rela- 
tion to  the  Koran,  quite  openly  contends  for  its  authenticity.* 

^According  to  the  Universal  Magazine  (XLVI,  p.  iii)  the  book  was  issued  in 
February,  1770.     It  was  published  in  two  volumes. 

"  Sidney  Lee  in  Nat'I  Diet,  of  Biography.  It  was  also  given  in  the  eighth 
volume  of  the  Edinburgh  edition  of  Sterne,   1803. 

5  See  London  Magazine,  June,  1770,  VI,  p.  319;  also  Monthly  Review,  XLII,  pp. 
360-363,  May,  1770.  The  author  of  this  latter  critique  further  proves  the  fraudu- 
lence  by  asserting  that  allusion  is  made  in  the  book  to  "facts  and  circumstances 
which  did  not  happen  until  Yorick  was  dead." 

*  It  is  obviously  not  the  place  here  for  a  full  discussion  of  this  question. 
Hedouin  in  the  appendix  of  his  "Life  of  Goethe"  (pp.  291  ff)  urges  the  claims  of 
the  book  and  resents  Fitzgerald's  rather  scornful  characterization  of  the  French 
critics  who  received  the  work  as  Sterne's  (see  Life  of  Sterne,  1864,  II,  p.  429)- 
Hedouin  refers  to  Jules  Janin  ("Essai  sur  la  vie  et  les  ouvrages  de  Sterne")  and 
Balzac  ("Physiologie  du  mariage,"  Meditation  xvii,)  as  citing  from  the  work  as 
genuine.  Barbey  d'Aurevilly  is,  however,  noted  as  contending  in  la  Patrie 
against  the  authenticity.  This  is  probably  the  article  to  be  found  in  his  collection 
of  Essays,  "XIX  Siecle,  Les  oeuvres  et  les  hommes,"  Paris,  1890,  pp.  73-93.  Fitz- 
gerald mentions  Chasles  among  French  critics  who  accept  the  book.  Springer  is 
incorrect  in  his  assertion  that  the  Koran  appeared  seven  years  after  Sterne's  death, 
but  he  is  probably  building  on  the  incorect  statement  in  the  Quarterly  Review 
(XCIV,  pp.  303  ff).  Springer  also  asserts  erroneously  that  it  was  never  published 
in  Sterne's  collected  works.  He  is  evidently  disposed  to  make  a  case  for  the  Koran 
and  finds  really  his  chief  proof  in  the  fact  that  both  Goethe  and  Jean  Paul  accepted 
it   unquestioningly.     Bodnier   quotes   Sterne   from  the    Koran   in   a   letter   to   Denis, 


76 

Since  a  German  translation  appeared  in  the  following  year 
(1771),  the  German  reviews  do  not,  in  the  main,  concern  them- 
selves with  the  English  original.  The  Neues  Bremisches  Mag- 
asin,^  however,  censures  the  book  quite  severely,  but  the  Neue 
Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften-  welcomes  it  with  un- 
questioning praise.  The  German  rendering  was  by  Johann 
Gottfried  Gellius,  and  the  title  was  "Yorick's  Nachgelassene 
Werke."^  The  Deutsche  Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaf- 
ten^ does  acknowledge  the  doubtful  authorship  but  accepts 
completely  its  Yorick  tone  and  whim — "one  cannot  tell  the 
copyist  from  the  original."  Various  characteristics  are  cited 
as  common  to  this  work  and  Yorick's  other  writings,  the  con- 
trast, change,  confusion,  conflict  with  the  critics  and  the  talk 
about  himself.  For  the  collection  of  aphorisms,  sayings,  frag- 
ments and  maxims  which  form  the  second  part  of  the  Koran, 
including  the  "Memorabilia,"  the  reviewer  suggests  the  name 
"Sterniana."  The  reviewer  acknowledges  the  occasional  fail- 
ure in  attempted  thrusts  of  wit,  the  ineffective  satire,  the  im- 
moral innuendo  in  some  passages,  but  after  the  first  word  of 
doubt  the  review  passes  on  into  a  tone  of  seemingly  complete 
acceptation. 

In  1778  another  translation  of  this  book  appeared,  which 
has  been  ascribed  to  Bode,  though  not  given  by  Goedeke,  Jor- 
dens  or  Meusel.  Its  title  was  "Der  Koran,  oder  Leben  und 
Meynungen  des  Tria  Juncta  in  Uno."^  The  Ahnanach  der 
deutschen  Musen^  treats  this  work  with  full  measure  of  praise. 
The  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek''  accepts  the  book  in  this 
translation  as  a  genuine  product  of  Sterne's  genius.  Sammer 
reprinted  the  "Koran"  (Vienna,  1795,  12°)  and  included  it  in 

April  4,  1771,  "M.  Denis  Lit.  Nachlass,"  ed.  by  Retzer,  Wien,  1801,  II,  p.  120, 
and  other  German  authors  have  in  a  similar  way  made  quotations  from  this  work, 
without  questioning  its  authenticity. 

1  III,  p.  537.  1771- 

^X,  p.  173. 

^Leipzig,  Schwickert,  1771,  pp.  326,  8". 

*  V,  p.  726. 

*  Hamburg,   Herold,    1778,  pp.   248,    12". 
'  1779,  P-  67. 

^Anhang  to  XXV-XXXVI,  Vol.  II,  p.  768. 


77 

his  nine  volume  edition  of  Sterne's  complete  works  (Vienna, 

1798). 

Goethe's  connection  with  the  "Koran,"  which  forms  the  most 
interesting  phase  of  its  German  career,  will  be  treated  later. 

Sterne's  unacknowledged  borrowings,  his  high-handed  and 
extensive  appropriation  of  work  not  his  own,  were  noted  in 
Germany,  the  natural  result  of  Ferriar's  investigations  in  Eng- 
land, but  they  seem  never  to  have  attracted  any  considerable 
attention  or  aroused  any  serious  concern  among  Sterne's  ad- 
mirers so  as  to  imperil  his  position :  the  question  in  England  at- 
tached itself  as  an  ungrateful  but  unavoidable  concomitant  of 
every  discussion  of  Sterne  and  every  attempt  to  determine  his 
place  in  letters.  Bottiger  tells  us  that  Lessing  possessed  a  copy 
of  Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  from  which  Sterne 
filched  so  much  wisdom,  and  that  Lessing  had  marked  in  it  sev- 
eral of  the  passages  which  Ferriar  later  advanced  as  proof  of 
Sterne's  theft.  It  seems  that  Bode  purchased  this  volume  at 
Lessing's  auction  in  Hamburg.  Lessing  evidently  thought  it 
not  worth  while  to  mention  these  discoveries,  as  he  is  entirely 
silent  on  the  subject.  Bottiger  is,  in  his  account,  most  unwar- 
rantedly  severe  on  Ferriar,  whom  he  calls  "the  bilious  English- 
man" who  attacked  Sterne  "with  so  much  bitterness."  This  is 
very  far  from  a  veracious  conception  of  Ferriar's  attitude. 

The  comparative  indifference  in  Germany  to  this  phase  of 
Sterne's  literary  career  may  well  be  attributed  to  the  medium 
by  which  Ferriar's  findings  were  communicated  to  cultured 
Germany.  The  book  itself,  or  the  original  Manchester  society 
papers,  seem  never  to  have  been  reprinted  or  translated,  and 
Germany  learned  their  contents  through  a  resume  written  by 
Friedrich  Nicolai  and  published  in  the  Berlinische  Monats- 
schrift  for  February,  1795,  which  gives  a  very  sane  view  of  the 
subject,  one  in  the  main  distinctly  favorable  to  Sterne.  Nicolai 
says  Sterne  is  called  with  justice  "One  of  the  most  refined, 
ingenious  and  humorous  authors  of  our  time."  He  asserts 
with  capable  judgment  that  Sterne's  use  of  the  borrowed  pas- 
sages, the  additions  and  alterations,  the  individual  tone  which 
he  manages  to  infuse  into  them,  all  preclude  Sterne  from  being 


78 

set  down  as  a  brainless  copyist.  Nicolai's  attitude  may  be 
best  illustrated  by  the  following  passages : 

"Germany  has  authors  enough  who  resemble  Sterne  in  lack 
of  learning.  Would  that  they  had  a  hundredth  part  of  the 
merits  by  which  he  made  up  for  this  lack,  or  rather  which  re- 
sulted from  it,"  "We  would  gladly  allow  our  writers  to  take 
their  material  from  old  books,  and  even  many  expressions  and 
turns  of  style,  and  indeed  whole  passages,  even  if  like  Sterne 
....  they  claimed  it  all  as  their  own :  only  they  must  be  suc- 
cessful adapters ;  they  must  add  from  their  own  store  of  ob- 
servation and  thought  and  feeling.  The  creator  of  Tristram 
Shandy  does  this  in  rich  measure." 

Nicolai  also  contends  that  Sterne  was  gifted  with  two  char- 
acteristic qualities  which  were  not  imitation, — his  "Empfind- 
samkeit"  and  "Laune" — and  that  by  the  former  his  works 
breathe  a  tender,  delicate  beneficence,  a  character  of  noble  hu- 
manity, while  by  the  latter  a  spirit  of  fairest  mirth  is  spread 
over  his  pages,  so  that  one  may  never  open  them  without  a 
pleasant  smile.  "The  investigation  of  sources,"  he  says, 
"serves  as  explanation  and  does  not  mean  depreciation  of  an 
otherwise  estimable  author." 

By  this  article  Nicolai  choked  the  malicious  criticism  of  the 
late  favorite  which  might  have  followed  from  some  sources, 
had  another  communicated  the  facts  of  Sterne's  thievery. 
Lichtenberg  in  the  "Gottingischer  Taschenkalender,"  1796, 
that  is,  after  the  publication  of  Nicolai's  article,  but  with  refer- 
ence to  Ferriar's  essay  in  the  Manchester  Memoirs,  Vol.  IV, 
under  the  title  of  "Gelehrte  Diebstahle"  does  impugn  Sterne 
rather  spitefully  without  any  acknowledgment  of  his  extraor- 
dinary and  extenuating  use  of  his  borrowings.  "Yorick,"  he 
says,  "once  plucked  a  nettle  which  had  grown  upon  Lorenzo's 
grave ;  that  was  no  labor  for  him.  Who  will  uproot  this  plant 
which  Ferriar  has  set  on  his?"  Ferriar's  book  was  reviewed 
by  the  Neiie  Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften,  LXII, 
p.  310. 

Some  of  the  English  imitations  of  Sterne,  which  did  not 
actually  claim  him  as  author,  also  found  their  way  to  Germany, 
and  there  by  a  less  discriminating  public  were  joined  in  a  gen- 


79 

eral  way  to  the  mass  of  Yorick  production,  and  the  might  of 
Yorick  influence.  These  works  represent  almost  exclusively 
the  Sterne  of  the  Sentimental  Journey ;  for  the  shoal  of  petty 
imitations,  explanations  and  protests  which  appeared  in  Eng- 
land when  Shandy  was  first  issued^  had  gone  their  own  petty 
way  to  oblivion  before  Germany  awakened  to  Sterne's  influ- 
ence. 

One  of  the  best  known  of  the  English  Sentimental  Journeys 
was  the  work  of  Samuel  Paterson,  entitled,  "Another  Trav- 
eller: or  Cursory  Remarks  and  Critical  Observations  made 
upon  a  Journey  through  Part  of  the  Netherlands, — by  Coriat 
Junior,"  London,  1768,  two  volumes.  The  author  protested  in 
a  pamphlet  published  a  little  later  that  his  work  was  not  an  imi- 
tation of  Sterne,  that  it  was  in  the  press  before  Yorick's  book 
appeared ;  but  a  reviewer^  calls  his  attention  to  the  sentimental 
journeying  already  published  in  Shandy.  This  work  was 
translated  into  German  as  "Empfindsame  Reisen  durch  einen 
Theil  der  Niederlande,"  Biitzow,  1774-1775,  2  Parts,  8°.  The 
translator  was  Karl  Friedrich  Miichler,  who  showed  his  bent  in 
the  direction  of  wit  and  whim  by  the  publication  of  several  col- 
lections of  humorous  anecdotes,  witty  ideas  and  satirical  skits.* 

Much  later  a  similar  product  was  published,  entitled  "Lau- 

^  As  products  of  the  year  1760,  one  may  note: 
Tristram  Shandy  at  Ranelagh,  8",  Dunstan. 
Tristram   Shandy  in  a  Reverie,   8°,  Williams. 
Explanatory   Remarks  upon  the  Life  and   Opinions  of  Tristram   Shandy,  by 

Jeremiah  Kunastrokins,   12",  Cabe. 
A  Genuine  Letter   from  a   Methodist   Preacher  in  the   Country  to   Laurence 

Sterne,  8°,  Vandenberg. 
A  Shandean  essay  on  Human  Passions,  etc.,  by  Caleb  MacWhim,  4°,  Cooke. 
Yorick's  Meditations  upon  Interesting  and  Important  Subjects. 
The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Miss  Sukey  Shandy,  Stevens. 
The  Clockmaker's  Outcry  Against  Tristram  Shandy,  Burd. 
The  Rake  of  Taste,  or  the  Elegant  Debauchee  (another  ape  of  the  Shandean 

style,  according  to  London  Magazine). 
A  Supplement  to   the   Life   and   Opinion   of   Tristram   Shandy,   by   the  author 

of  Yorick's  Meditations,  12°. 

^  Monthly   Review,    XL,   p.    166. 

3  "Der  Reisegefahrte,"  Berlin,  1785-86.  "Komus  oder  der  Freund  des  Scherzes 
und  der  Laune,"  Berlin,  1806.  "Museum  des  Witzes  der  Laune  und  der  Satyre," 
Berlin,  810.  For  reviews  of  Coriat  in  German  periodicals  see  Gothaische  Gelehrte 
Zeitungen,  1774,  p.  378;  Leipsiger  Musen-Almanach,  1776,  p.  85;  Almanack  der 
Deutschen  Musen,  1775,  p.  84;   Unterhaltungen,  VII,  p.   167. 


80 

nige  Reise  durch  Holland  in  Yoricks^  Manier,  mit  Charakter- 
skizzen  und  Anekdoten  iiber  die  Sitten  und  Gebrauche  der  Hol- 
lander aus  dem  Englischen,"  two  volumes,  Zittau  und  Leipzig, 
1795.  The  translation  was  by  Reichel  in  Zittau/  This  may 
possibly  be  Ireland's  "A  Picturesque  Tour  through  Holland, 
Brabant  and  part  of  France,  made  in  1789,"  two  volumes,  Lon- 
don, 1790.^  The  well-known  "Peter  Pennyless"  was  repro- 
duced as  "Empfindsame  Gedanken  bey  verschiedenen  Vorfallen 
von  Peter  Pennyless,"  Leipzig,  Weidmann,  1770. 

In  1788  there  appeared  in  England  a  continuation  of  the  Sen- 
timental Journey^  in  which,  to  judge  from  the  reviewers,  the 
petty  author  outdid  Sterne  in  eccentricities  of  typography, 
breaks,  dashes,  scantily  filled  and  blank  pages.  This  is  evi- 
dently the  original  of  "Die  neue  empfindsame  Reise  in  Yoriks 
Geschmack,"  Leipzig,  1789,  8°,  pp.  168,  which,  according  to 
the  Allgemeine  Litteratur-Zeitung  bristles  with  such  extrava- 
gances.* 

A  much  more  successful  attempt  was  the  "Sentimental  Jour- 
ney, Intended  as  a  Sequel  to  Mr.  Sterne's,  Through  Italy, 
Switzerland  and  France,  by  Mr.  Shandy,"  two  volumes,  12°, 
1793,  This  was  evidently  the  original  of  Schink's  work  f  "Emp- 
findsame Reisen  durch  Italien,  die  Schweiz  und  Frankreich,  ein 
Nachtrag  zu  den  Yorikschen.  Aus  und  nach  dem  Englischen," 
Hamburg,  Hoffmann,  1794,  pp.  272,  8°.  The  translator's 
preface,  which  is  dated  Hamburg,  March  1794,  explains  his  at- 
titude toward  the  work  as  suggested  in  the  expression  "Aus 
und  nach  dem  Englischen,"  that  is,  "aus,  so  lange  wie  Treue 
fiir  den  Leser  Gewinn  schien  und  nach,  wenn  Abweichung  fur 
die  deutsche  Darstellung  notwendig  war."  He  claims  to  have 
softened  the  glaring  colors  of  the  original  and  to  have  dis- 
carded, or  altered  the  obscene  pictures.     The  author,  as  de- 

'  See  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,  1796,  I,  p.  256. 

*  The  identity  could  be  proven  or  disproven  by  comparison.  There  is  a  copy  of 
the  German  work  in  the  Leipzig  University  Library.  Ireland's  book  is  in  the 
British  Museum. 

'See  the  English  Review,  XIII,  p.  69,  1789,  and  the  Monthly  Review,  LXXIX, 
p.  468,  1788. 

*  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,  1791,  I,  p.  197.  A  sample  of  the  author's  absurdity  is 
given  there  in  quotation. 

"  Job.  Friedrich   Schink,  better  known  as  a  dramatist. 


I  w'^'/Vf 


V 


81 


scribed  in  the  preface,  is  an  illegitimate  son  of  Yorick,  named 
Shandy,  who  writes  the  narrative  as  his  father  would  have 
written  it,  if  he  had  lived.  This  assumed  authorship  proves 
quite  satisfactorily  its  connection  with  the  English  original,  as 
there,  too,  in  the  preface,  the  narrator  is  designated  as  a  base- 
born  son  of  Yorick.  The  book  is,  as  a  whole,  a  fairly  success- 
ful imitation  of  Yorick's  manner,  and  it  must  be  judged  as  de- 
cidedly superior  to  Stevenson's  attempt.  The  author  takes  up 
the  story  where  Sterne  left  it,  in  the  tavern  room  with  the 
Piedmontese  lady ;  and  the  narrative  which  follows  is  replete 
with  allusions  to  familiar  episodes  and  sentiments  in  the  real 
Journey,  with  sentimental  adventures  and  opportunities  for 
kindly  deeds,  and  sympathetic  tears ;  motifs  used  originally 
are  introduced  here,  a  begging  priest  with  a  snuff-box,  a  con- 
fusion with  the  Yorick  in  Hamlet,  a  poor  girl  with  wandering 
mind  seated  by  the  wayside,  and  others  equally  familiar. 

It  is  not  possible  to  determine  the  extent  of  Schink's  altera- 
tions to  suit  German  taste,  but  one  could  easily  believe  that  the 
somewhat  lengthy  descriptions  of  external  nature,  quite  for- 
eign to  Sterne,  were  original  with  him,  and  that  the  episode  of 
the  young  German  lady  by  the  lake  of  Geneva,  with  her  fevered 
admiration  for  Yorick,  and  the  compliments  to  the  German 
nation  and  the  praise  for  great  Germans,  Luther,  Leibnitz  and 
Frederick  the  Great,  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the  same  source.  He 
did  not  rid  the  book  of  revolting  features,  as  one  might  sup- 
pose from  his  preface.^  Previous  to  the  publication  of  the 
whole  translation,  Schink  published  in  the  February  number  of 
the  Deutsche  Monatsschrift'-  two  sections  of  his  book,  "Die 
"Schone  Obstverkauferin"  and  "Elisa."  Later,  in  the  May 
number,  he  published  three  other  fragments,  "Turin,  Hotel  del 
Ponto,"  "Die  Verlegenheit,"  "Die  Unterredung."^ 

A  few  years  later  Schink  published  another  and  very  similar 
volume  with  the  title,  "Launen,  Phantasieen  und  Schilderun- 

^  See  the  story  of  the  gentlewoman  from  Thionville,  p.  250,  and  elsewhere. 

*  The  references  to  the  Deutsche  Monatsschrift  are  respectively,  I,  pp.  181-188, 
and  II,  pp.  65-71. 

^  For  review  of  Schink's  book  see  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,   1794,  IV,   p.   62,  October 
7.      Bottiger    seems    to    think    that    Schink's    work    is    but   another    working    over    of 
Stevenson's  continuation. 
6 


OP 


82 

gen  aus  dem  Tagebuche  eines  reisenden  Englanders/'^  Arn- 
stadt  und  Rudolstadt,  1801,  pp.  323.  It  has  not  been  possible 
to  find  an  English  original,  but  the  translator  makes  claim  upon 
one,  though  confessing  alterations  to  suit  his  German  readers, 
and  there  is  sufficient  internal  evidence  to  point  to  a  real  Eng- 
lish source.  The  traveler  is  a  haggard,  pale-faced  EngHsh 
clergyman,  who,  with  his  French  servant,  La  Pierre,  has  wan- 
dered in  France  and  Italy  and  is  now  bound  for  Margate. 
Here  again  we  have  sentimental  episodes,  one  with  a  fair  lady 
in  a  post-chaise,  another  with  a  monk  in  a  Trappist  cloister, 
apostrophes  to  the  imagination,  the  sea,  and  nature,  a  new  di- 
vision of  travelers,  a  debate  of  personal  attributes,  constant  ap- 
peals to  his  dear  Sophie,  who  is,  like  Eliza,  ever  in  the  back- 
ground, occasional  references  to  objects  made  familiar  through 
Yorick,  as  Dessein's  Hotel,  and  a  Yorick-like  sympathy  with 
the  dumb  beast ;  in  short,  an  open  imitation  of  Sterne,  but  the 
motifs  from  Sterne  are  here  more  mixed  and  less  obvious. 
There  is,  as  in  the  former  book,  much  more  enthusiasm  for 
nature  than  is  characteristic  of  Sterne ;  and  there  is  here  much 
more  miscellaneous  material,  such,  for  example,  as  the  tale  of 
the  two  sisters,  which  betrays  no  trace  of  Sterne's  influence. 
The  latter  part  of  the  volume  is  much  less  reminiscent  of 
Yorick  and  suggests  interpolation  by  the  translator.^ 

Near  the  close  of  the  century  was  published  "Fragments  in 
the  manner  of  Sterne,"  8°,  Debrett,  1797,  which,  according  to 
the  Monthly  Review;''  caught  in  large  measure  the  sentimen- 
tality, pathos  and  whimsicality  of  Sterne's  style.  The  British 
Museum  catalogue  suggests  J.  Brandon  as  its  author.  This 
was  reprinted  by  Nauck  in  Leipzig  in  1800,  and  a  translation 
was  given  to  the  world  by  the  same  publisher  in  the  same  year, 
with  the  added  title:  "Ein  Seitenstiick  zu  Yoricks  empfind- 
samen  Reisen."     The  translation  is  attributed  by   Kayser  to 

1  It  is  not  given  by  Goedeke  or  Meusel,  but  is  given  among  Schink's  works  in 
"Ncuer  Nekrolog  der   Deutschen,"   Weimar,    1835-1837,   XIII,   pp.    161-165. 

^  In  both  these  books  the  English  author  may  perhaps  be  responsible  for  some  of 
the  deviation  from  Sterne's  style. 
^  CV,  p.  271. 


83 

Aug.  Wilhelmi,  the  pseudonym  of  August  Wilhelm  Meyer.^ 
Here  too  belongs  "Mariens  Brief e  nebst  Nachricht  von  ihrem 
Tode,  aus  dem  Englischen,"-  which  was  published  also  under 
the  title :  "Yoricks  Empfindsame  Reisen  durch  Frankreich 
und  Italien,"  5th  vol..  8°,  Weissenfels,  Severin,  Mitzky  in 
Leipzig,  1795. 

^  Kayser  notes  another  translation,  "Fragmente  in  Yorick's  Manier,  aus  dem 
Eng.,  mit  Kpf.,  8"."  London,  1800.  It  is  possibly  identical  v.ith  the  one  noted 
above.     A  second  edition  of  the  original  came  out  in  1798. 

^  The  original  of  this  was  published  by  Kearsley  in  London,  1790,  12",  a  teary 
contribution  to  the  story  of  Maria  of  Moulines. 


CHAPTER  V 


STERNE'S  INFLUENCE  IN  GERMANY 

Thus  in  manifold  ways  Sterne  was  introduced  into  German 
life  and  letters.^  He  stood  as  a  figure  of  benignant  humanity, 
of  lavish  sympathy  with  every  earthly  affliction,  he  became  a 
guide  and  mentor,-  an  awakener  and  consoler,  and  probably 
more  than  all,  a  sanction  for  emotional  expression.  Not  only 
in  literature,  but  in  the  conduct  of  life  was  Yorick  judged  a 
preceptor,  j  The  most  important  attempt  to  turn  Yorick's 
teachings  to  practical  service  in  modifying  conduct  in  human 
relationships  was  the  introduction  and  use  of  the  so-called 
"Lorenzodosen."  The  considerable  popularity  of  this  remark- 
able conceit  is  tangible  evidence  of  Sterne's  influence  in  Ger- 
many and  stands  in  striking  contrast  to  the  wavering  enthusi- 
asm, vigorous  denunciation  and  half-hearted  acknowledgment 

^A  writer  in  the  Gothaisclte  Gelehrte  Zeitungen,  1775  (II,  787  fF.),  asserts  that 
Sterne's  works  are  the  favorite  reading  of  the  German  nation. 

^A  further  illustration  may  be  found  in  the  following  discourse:  "Von  einigen 
Hindernissen  des  akademischen  Fleisses.  Eine  Rede  bey  dem  Anfange  der  offent- 
lichen  Vorlesungen  gehalten,"  von  J.  C.  C.  Ferber,  Professor  zu  Helmstadt  (1773, 
8"),  reviewed  in  Magasin  der  deutschen  Critik,  III,  St.  I.,  pp.  261  ff.  This 
academic  guide  of  youth  speaks  of  Sterne  in  the  following  words:  "Wie  tief 
dringt  dieser  Philosoph  in  die  verborgensten  Gange  des  menschlichen  Herzens,  wie 
richtig  entdeckt  er  die  geheimsten  Federn  der  Handlungen,  wie  entlarvt,  wie 
verabscheuungsvoll  steht  vor  ihm  das  Laster,  wie  liebenswiirdig  die  Tugend!  wie 
interessant  sind  seine  Schilderungen,  wie  eindringend  seine  Lehren!  und  woher 
diese  grosse  Kenntniss  des  Menschen,  woher  diese  getreue  Bezeichnung  der  Natur, 
diese  sanften  Empfindungen,  die  seine  geistvolle  Sprache  hervorbringt?  Dieser 
Saame  der  Tugend,  den  er  mit  wohlthatiger  Hand  ausstreuet?"  Yorick  held  up  to 
college  or  university  students  as  a  champion  of  virtue  is  certainly  an  extraordinary 
spectacle.  A  critic  in  the  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ana.,  August  18,  1772,  in  criticising  the 
make-up  of  a  so-called  "Landbibliothek,"  recommends  books  "die  geschickt  sind,  die 
guten  einfaltigen,  ungekiinstelten  Empfindungen  reiner  Seelen  zu  unterhalten,  einen 
Yorick  vor  alien  .  .  .  ."  The  long  article  on  Sterne's  character  in  the  Gotting. 
Mag.,  I,  pp.  84-92,  1780,  "Etwas  tiber  Sterne:  Schreiben  an  Prof.  Lichtenberg"  un- 
doubtedly helped  to  establish  this  opinion  of  Sterne  authoritatively.  In  it  Sterne's 
weaknesses  are  acknowledged,  but  the  tendency  is  to  emphasize  the  tender,  sympa- 
thetic side  of  his  character.  The  conception  of  Yorick  there  presented  is  quite 
different  from  the  one  held  by  Lichtenberg  himself. 

84 


85 

which  marked  Sterne's  career  in  England.  A  century  of  criti- 
cism has  disallowed  Sterne's  claim  as  a  prophet,  but  unques- 
tionably he  received  in  Germany  the  honors  which  a  foreign 
land  proverbially  accords. 

To  Johann  Georg  Jacobi,  the  author  of  the  "Winterreise" 
and  "Sommerreise,"  two  well-known  imitations  of  Sterne,  the 
sentimental  world  was  indebted  for  this  practical  manner  of 
expressing  adherence  to  a  sentimental  creed. ^  In  the  Ham- 
burgischer  Correspondent  he  published  an  open  letter  to  Gleim, 
dated  April  4,  1769,  about  the  time  of  the  inception  of  the 
"Winterreise,"  in  which  letter  he  relates  at  considerable  length 
the  origin  of  the  idea.-  A  few  days  before  this  the  author  was 
reading  to  his  brother,  Fritz  Jacobi,  the  philosopher,  novelist 
and  friend  of  Goethe,  and  a  number  of  ladies,  from  Sterne's 
Sentimental  Journey  the  story  of  the  poor  Franciscan  who 
begged  alms  of  Yorick.  "We  read,"  says  Jacobi,  "how  Yorick 
used  this  snuff-box  to  invoke  its  former  possessor's  gentle, 
patient  spirit,  and  to  keep  his  own  composed  in  the  midst  of 
Hfe's  conflicts.  The  good  Monk  had  died :  Yorick  sat  by  his 
grave,  took  out  the  little  snuff-box,  plucked  a  few  nettles  from 
the  head  of  the  grave,  and  wept.     We  looked  at  one  another  in 

^  The  story  of  the  "Lorenzodosen"  is  given  quite  fully  in  Longo's  monograph, 
"Laurence  Sterne  und  Johann  Georg  Jacobi"  (Wien,  1898,  pp.  39-44),  and  the 
sketch  given  here  is  based  upon  his  investigation,  with  consultation  of  the  sources 
there  cited.  Nothing  new  is  likely  to  be  added  to  his  account,  but  because  of  its 
important  illustrative  bearing  on  the  whole  story  of  Sterne  in  Germany,  a  fairly 
complete  account  is  given  here.  Longo  refers  to  the  following  as  literature  on  the 
subject: 

Martin,  in  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  II,  p.   10,  p.  27,  Anmerk,  24. 

Wittenberg's  letter  in  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  II,  pp.  52-53. 

K.  M.  Werner,  in  article  on  Ludw.  Philipp  Hahn  in  the  same  series,  XXII, 

pp.  127  ff. 
Appell:     "Werther  und  seine  Zeit,"  Leipzig,  1855,  p.  168.      (Oldenburg,  1896, 

p.  246-250). 
Schlichtegroll :     "Nekrolog  von    1792,"    II,   pp,    37    ff. 
Klotz:     Bibliothek,  V,  p.  285. 
Jacobi's  Werke,  1770,  I,  pp.   127  ff. 
Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XIX,  2,  p.  174;  XII,  2,  p.  279. 

Julian   Schmidt:     "Aus  der  Zeit  der  Lorenzodosen,"    Westermann's  Monats- 
hefte,  XLIX,  pp.  479  ff. 
The  last  article  is  popular  and  only  valuable  in  giving  letters  of  Wieland  and 
others  which  display  the  emotional  currents  of  the  time.     It  has  very  little  to  do 
with  the  Lorenzodosen. 

^  The  letter  is  reprinted  in  Jacobi's  Works,  1770,  I,  pp.  31  ff.,  and  in  an  abridged 
form  in  the  edition  of  1807,  I,  pp.  103  ff . ;  and  in  the  edition  of  Ziirich,  1^25,  I, 
pp.  270-275. 


86 

silence :  each  rejoiced  to  find  tears  in  the  others'  eyes ;  we  hon- 
ored the  death  of  the  venerable  old  man  Lorenzo  and  the  good- 
hearted  Englishman.  In  our  opinion,  too,  the  Franciscan  de- 
served more  to  be  canonized  than  all  the  saints  of  the  calendar. 
Gentleness,  contentedness  with  the  world,  patience  invincible, 
pardon  for  the  errors  of  mankind,  these  are  the  primary  virtues 
he  teaches  his  disciples."  The  moment  was  too  precious  not 
to  be  emphasized  by  something  rememberable,  perceptible  to 
the  senses,  and  they  all  purchased  for  themselves  horn  snuff- 
boxes, and  had  the  words  "Pater  Lorenzo"  written  in  golden 
letters  on  the  outside  of  the  cover  and  "Yorick"  within.  Oath 
was  taken  for  the  sake  of  Saint  Lorenzo  to  give  something  to 
every  Franciscan  who  might  ask  of  them,  and  further:  "If 
anyone  in  our  company  should  allow  himself  to  be  carried  away 
by  anger,  his  friend  holds  out  to  him  the  snuff-box,  and  we 
have  too  much  feeling  to  withstand  this  reminder  even  in  the 
greatest  violence  of  passion."  It  is  suggested  also  that  the 
ladies,  who  use  no  tobacco,  should  at  least  have  such  a  snuff- 
box on  their  night-stands,  because  to  them  belong  in  such  a 
high  degree  those  gentle  feelings  which  were  to  be  associated 
with  the  article.  / 

This  letter  printed  in  the  Hamburg  paper  was  to  explain  the 
snuff-box,  which  Jacobi  had  sent  to  Gleim  a  few  days  before, 
and  the  desire  is  also  expressed  to  spread  the  order.  Hence 
others  were  sent  to  other  friends.  Jacobi  goes  on  to  say: 
"Perhaps  in  the  future,  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  a 
stranger  here  and  there  who  will  hand  me  the  horn  snuff-box 
with  its  golden  letters.  I  shall  embrace  him  as  intimately  as 
one  Free  Mason  does  another  after  the  sign  has  been  given. 
Oh !  what  a  joy  it  would  be  to  me,  if  I  could  introduce  so 
precious  a  custom  among  my  fellow-townsmen."  A  reviewer 
in  the  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bihliothek^  sharply  condemns 
Jacobi  for  his  conceit  in  printing  publicly  a  letter  meant  for  his 
friend  or  friends,  and,  to  judge  from  the  words  with  which 
Jacobi  accompanies  the  abridged  form  of  the  letter  in  the  later 
editions  it  would  seem  that  Jacobi  himself  was  later  ashamed 
of  the  whole  affair.     The  idea,  however,  was  warmly  received, 

•  XI,  2,  pp.   174-75- 


87 

and  among  the  teary,  sentimental  enthusiasts  the  horn  snuff- 
box soon  became  the  fad.  A  few  days  after  the  pubHcation 
of  this  letter,  Wittenberg/  the  journaHst  in  Hamburg,  writes 
to  Jacobi  (April  21)  that  many  in  Hamburg  desire  to  possess 
these  snuff-boxes,  and  he  adds :  "A  hundred  or  so  are  now 
being  manufactured ;  besides  the  name  Lorenzo,  the  following 
legend  is  to  appear  on  the  cover:  Animae  quales  non  candi- 
diores  terra  tulit.  Wittenberg  explains  that  this  Latin  motto 
was  a  suggestion  of  his  own,  selfishly  made,  for  thereby  he 
might  win  the  opportunity  of  explaining  it  to  the  fair  ladies, 
and  exacting  kisses  for  the  service.  Wittenberg  asserts  that 
a  lady  (Longo  guesses  a  certain  Johanna  Friederike  Behrens) 
was  the  first  to  suggest  the  manufacture  of  the  article  at  Ham- 
burg. A  second  letter-  from  Wittenberg  to  Jacobi  four  months 
later  (August  21,  1769)  announces  the  sending  of  nine  snuff- 
boxes to  Jacobi,  and  the  price  is  given  as  one-half  a  reichs- 
thaler.  Jacobi  himself  says  in  his  note  to  the  later  edition  that 
merchants  made  a  speculation  out  of  the  fad,  and  that  a  multi- 
tude of  such  boxes  were  sent  out  through  all  Germany,  even 
to  Denmark  and  Livonia:  "they  were  in  every  hand,"  he  says. 
Graf  Solms  had  such  boxes  made  of  tin  with  the  name  Jacobi 
inside.  Both  Martin  and  Werner  instance  the  request^  of  a 
Protestant  vicar,  Johann  David  Goll  in  Trossingen,  for  a  "Lo- 
renzodose"  with  the  promise  to  subscribe  to  the  oath  of  the 
order,  and,  though  Protestant,  to  name  the  Catholic  Franciscan 
his  brother.  According  to  a  spicy  review*  in  the  Allgemcine 
deutsche  Bibliothek^  these  snuff-boxes  were  sold  in  Hambure 
wrapped  in  a  printed  copy  of  Jacobi's  letter  to  Gleim,  and  the 
reviewer   adds,    like    Grenough's   tooth-tincture   in   the   direc- 

^  Qucllen  und  Forschungen,  XXII,   p.    127. 

^Ibid.,    II,   pp.    52-53. 

2  This  was  in  a  letter  to  Jacobi  October  25,  1770,  though  Appell  gives  the  date 
177s — evidently  a  misprint. 

*  Review  of  "Trois  lettres  frangoises  par  quelques  allemands,"  Amsterdam  (Ber- 
lin), 1769,  8",  letters  concerned  with  Jacobi's  "Winterreise"  and  the  snuff-boxes 
themselves. 

=  XII,  2,  p.  279. 


88 

tions  for  its  use."^  Nicolai  in  "Sebaldus  Nothanker"  refers  to 
the  Lorenzo  cult  with  evident  ridicule. - 

There  were  other  efforts  to  make  Yorick's  example  an  effi- 
cient power  of  beneficent  brotherliness.  Kaufmann  attempted 
to  found  a  Lorenzo  order  of  the  horn  snuff-box.  Diintzer,  in 
his  study  of  Kaufmann,^  states  that  this  was  only  an  effort  on 
Kaufmann's  part  to  embrace  a  timely  opportunity  to  make 
himself  prominent.  This  endeavor  was  made  according  to 
Diintzer,  during  Kaufmann's  residence  in  Strassburg,  which 
the  investigator  assigns  to  the  years  1774-75.  Leuchsenring,* 
the  eccentric  sentimentalist,  who  for  a  time  belonged  to  the 
Darmstadt  circle  and  whom  Goethe  satirized  in  "Pater  Brey," 
cherished  also  for  a  time  the  idea  of  founding  an  order  of 
"Empfindsamkeit. 

In  the  literary  remains  of  Johann  Christ  Hofmann^  in  Co- 
burg  was  found  the  "patent"  of  an  order  of  'Sanftmuth  und 
Versohnung."  A  "Lorenzodose"  was  found  with  it  marked 
XXVIII,  and  the  seven  rules  of  the  order,  dated  Coburg  "im 
Ordens-Comtoir,  den  10  August,  1769,"  are  merely  a  topical 
enlargement  and  ordering  of  Jacobi's  original  idea.     Longo 

^  Longo  was  unable  to  find  one  of  these  once  so  popular  snuff-boxes, — a  rather 
remarkable   fact.     There  is,  however,  a  picture  of  one   at  the   end  of  the  chapter 

"Yorick,"  p.  15  in  Gochhausen's  M  .  .  .  .  R — a  small  oval  box.     Emil  Kuh, 

in  his  life  of  Fredrich  Hebbel  (1877,  I,  pp.  117-118)  speaks  of  the  Lorenzodose  as 
"dreieckig."  A  chronicler  in  Schlichtegroll's  "Nekrolog,"  1792,  II,  p.  51,  also 
gives  rumor  of  an  order  of  "Sanftmuth  und  Toleranz,  der  eine  dreyeckigte  Loren- 
zodose zum  Symbol  fuhrte."  The  author  here  is  unable  to  determine  whether  this 
is  a  part  of  Jacobi's  impulse  or  the  initiative  of  another. 

2  Fourth  Edition.     Berlin  and  Stettin,   1779,  III,  p.  99- 

8  "Christopher  Kaufmann,  der  Kraftapostel  der  Geniezeit"  von  Heinrich  Diint- 
zer, Historisches  Taschenhuch,  edited  by  Fr.  v.  Raumer,  third  series,  tenth  year, 
Leipzig,  1859,  pp.  109-231.  Duntzer's  sources  concerning  Kaufmann's  life  in 
Strassburg  are  Schmohl's  "Urne  Johann  Jacob  Mochels,"  1780,  and  "Johann  Jacob 
Mochel's  Reliquien  verschiedener  philosophischen  padogogischen  poetischen  und 
andern  Aufsatze,"  1780.  These  books  have  unfortunately  not  been  available  for 
the  present  use. 

*  For  account  of  Leuchsenring  see  Varnhagen  van  Ense,  "Vermischte  Schriften", 
I,  492-S32. 

B  Schlichtegroll's  "Nekrolog,"  1792,  II,  pp.  37  ff.  There  is  also  given  here  a 
quotation  written  after  Sterne's  death,  which  is  of  interest: 

"Wir  erben,  Yorick,  deine  Dose, 
Auch  deine  Feder  erben  wir; 
Doch  wer  erhielt  im  Erbschaftsloose 
Dein  Herz?     O  Yorick,  nenn  ihn  mir!" 


89 

gives  them  in  full.  Appell  states  that  Jacobi  explained  through 
a  friend  that  he  knew  nothing  of  this  order  and  had  no  share 
in  its  founding.  Longo  complains  that  Appell  does  not  give 
the  source  of  his  information,  but  Jacobi  in  his  note  to  the  so- 
called  "Stiftungs-Brief"  in  the  edition  of  1807  quotes  the  article 
in  Schlichtegroll's  "Nekrolog"  as  his  only  knowledge  of  this 
order,  certainly  implying  his  previous  ignorance  of  its  ex- 
istence. 

Somewhat  akin  to  these  attempts  to  incorporate  Yorick's 
ideas  is  the  fantastic  laying  out  of  the  park  at  Marienwerder 
near  Hanover,  of  which  Matthison  writes  in  his  "Vaterland- 
ische  Besuche,"^  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Hofrath  von  Kopken  in 
Magdeburg,^  dated  October  17,  1785.  After  a  sympathetic 
description  of  the  secluded  park,  he  tells  how  labyrinthine  paths 
lead  to  an  eminence  "where  the  unprepared  stranger  is  sur- 
prised by  the  sight  of  a  cemetery.  On  the  crosses  there  one 
reads  beloved  names  from  Yorick's  Journey  and  Tristram 
Shandy.  Father  Lorenzo,  Eliza,  Maria  of  Moulines,  Corporal 
Trim,  Uncle  Toby  and  Yorick  were  gathered  by  a  poetic  fancy 
to  this  graveyard."  The  letter  gives  a  similar  description  and 
adds  the  epitaph  on  Trim's  monument,  "Weed  his  grave  clean, 
ye  men  of  goodness,  for  he  was  your  brother,"^  a  quotation, 
which  in  its  fuller  form,  Matthison  uses  in  a  letter*  to  Bonstet- 
ten,  Heidelberg,  February  7,  1794,  in  speaking  of  Bock  the 
actor.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  whose  eccentric  and  taste- 
less enthusiasm  is  represented  by  this  mortuary  arrangement. 

Louise  von  Ziegler,  known  in  the  Darmstadt  circle  as  Lila, 
whom  Merck  admired  and,  according  to  Caroline  Flaschsland, 
"almost  compared  with  Yorick's  Maria,"  was  so  sentimental 
that  she  had  her  grave  made  in  her  garden,  evidently  for  pur- 
poses of  contemplation,  and  she  led  a  lamb  about  which  ate 
and  drank  with  her.  Upon  the  death  of  this  animal,  "a  faith- 
ful dog"  took  its  place.  Thus  was  Maria  of  Moulines  re- 
membered.^ 

1  Works  of  Friedrich  von  Matthison,  Zurich,   1825,  III,  pp.   141    S-,  in  "Erinne- 
rungen,"   zweites  Buch.     The   "Vaterlandische  Besuche"  were  dated   1794. 
'  Briefe  von  Friedrich  Matthison,  Zurich,  i795.  I.  PP-  27-32- 
3  Shandy,   III,  22. 
*  Briefe,  II,  p.  95. 
6  "Herders  Briefwechsel  mit  seiner  Braut",  pp.   92,    181,    187,   253,   377. 


90 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  Yorick's  sympathy  for  the 
brute  creation  found  cordial  response  in  Germany,  such  regard 
being  accepted  as  a  part  of  his  message.  That  the  spread  of  such 
sentimental  notions  was  not  confined  to  the  printed  word,  but 
passed  over  into  actual  regulation  of  conduct  is  admirably  illus- 
trated by  an  anecdote  related  in  Wieland's  Teutscher  Merkur 
in  the  January  number  for  1776,  by  a  correspondent  who  signs 
himself  "S."  A  friend  was  visiting  him;  they  went  to  walk, 
and  the  narrator  having  his  gun  with  him  shot  with  it  two 
young  doves.  His  friend  is  exercised.  "What  have  the  doves 
done  to  you?"  he  queries,  "Nothing,"  is  the  reply,  "but  they 
will  taste  good  to  you."  "But  they  were  alive,"  interposed 
the  friend,  "and  would  have  caressed  (geschnabelt)  one  an- 
other," and  later  he  refuses  to  partake  of  the  doves.  Connec- 
tion with  Yorick  is  established  by  the  narrator  himself  :  "If  my 
friend  had  not  read  Yorick's  story  about  the  sparrow,  he  would 
have  had  no  rule  of  conduct  here  about  shooting  doves, 
and  my  doves  would  have  tasted  better  to  him."  The  influence 
of  Yorick  was,  however,  quite  possibly  indirect  through  Jacobi 
as  intermediary ;  for  the  latter  describes  a  sentimental  family 
who  refused  to  allow  their  doves  to  be  killed.  The  author  of 
this  letter,  however,  refers  directly  to  Yorick,  to  the  very 
similar  episode  of  the  sparrows  narrated  in  the  continuation  of 
the  Sentimental  Journey,  but  an  adventure  original  with  the 
German  Bode.  This  is  probably  the  source  of  Jacobi's 
narrative. 

The  other  side  of  Yorick's  character,  less  comprehensible, 
less  capable  of  translation  into  tangibilities,  was  not  disre- 
garded. His  humor  and  whimsicality,  though  much  less 
potent,  were  yet  influential.  Ramler  said  in  a  letter  to  Gebler 
dated  November  14,  1775,  that  everyone  wished  to  jest  like 
Sterne,^  and  the  Frankfurter  Gelehrte  Anzeigen  (October  31, 
1775)  J  at  almost  precisely  the  same  time,  discourses  at  some 
length  on  the  then  prevailing  epidemic  of  whimsicality,  show- 
ing that  shallowness  beheld  in  the  then  existing  interest  in 

^  Quoted  by  Koberstein,  IV,  p.  i68.  Else,  p.  31;  Hettner,  III,  i,  p.  362, 
quoted  from  letters  in  Friedrich  Schlegel's  Deutsches  Museum,  IV,  p.  145.  These 
letters  are  not  given  by  Goedeke. 


91 

humor  a  justification  for  all  sorts  of  eccentric  behavior  and  in- 
consistent wilfulness. 

Naturally  Sterne's  influence  in  the  world  of  letters  may  be 
traced  most  obviously  in  the  slavish  imitation  of  his  style,  his 
sentiment,  his  whims, — this  phase  represented  in  general  by 
now  forgotten  triflers ;  but  it  also  enters  into  the  thought  of  the 
great  minds  in  the  fatherland  and  becomes  interwoven  with 
their  culture.  Their  own  expressions  of  indebtedness  are  here 
often  available  in  assigning  a  measure  of  relationship.  And 
finally  along  certain  general  lines  the  German  Yorick  exercised 
an  influence  over  the  way  men  thought  and  wanted  to  think. 

The  direct  imitations  of  Sterne  are  very  numerous,  a  crowd 
of  followers,  a  motley  procession  of  would-be  Yoricks,  set  out 
on  one  expedition  or  another.  Musiius^  in  a  review  of  certain 
sentimental  meanderings  in  the  Allgemeine  dentsche  Bihlio- 
thek,-  remarked  that  the  increase  of  such  journey ings  threat- 
ened to  bring  about  a  new  epoch  in  the  taste  of  the  time.  He 
adds  that  the  good  Yorick  presumably  never  anticipated  be- 
coming the  founder  of  a  fashionable  sect.  This  was  in  1773. 
Other  expressions  of  alarm  or  disapprobation  might  be  cited. 

Through  Sterne's  influence  the  account  of  travels  became 
more  personal,  less  purely  topographical,  more  volatile  and 
merry,  more  subjective.^  Goethe  in  a  passage  in  the  "Cam- 
pagne  in  Frankreich,"  to  which  reference  is  made  later,  ac- 
knowledges this  impulse  as  derived  from  Yorick.  Its  pres- 
ence was  felt  even  when  there  was  no  outward  effort  at  senti- 
mental journeying.     The  suggestion  that  the  record  of  a  jour- 

^  The  review  is  credited  to  him  by  Koberstein,  III,  pp.  463-4. 

=  XIX,  2,  p.   579- 

^  See  "Bemerkungen  oder  Briefe  iiber  Wien,  eines  jungen  Bayern  auf  einer 
Reise  durch  Deutschland,"  Leipzig  (probably  1804  or  1805).  It  is,  according  to 
the  Jenaische  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung  (1805,  IV,  p.  383).  full  of  extravagant  senti- 
ment with  frequent  apostrophe  to  the  author's  "Evelina."  Also,  "Meine  Reise 
vom  Stadtchen  H  .  .  .  .  zum  Dorfchen  H  .  .  .  .  "  Hannover,  1799.  See  Allg. 
Litt.  Zeitung,  1799,  IV,  p.  87.  "Reisen  unter  Sonne,  Mond  und  Sternen,"  Erfurt, 
1798,  pp.  220,  8".  This  is  evidently  a  similar  work,  but  is  classed  by  Allg.  Litt. 
Zeitung  (1799,  I,  477)  as  an  imitation  of  Jean  Paul,  hence  indirectly  to  be  con- 
nected with  Yorick.  "Reisen  des  grunen  Mannes  durch  Deutschland,"  Halle,  1787- 
91.  See  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,  1789,  I,  217;  1791,  IV,  p.  576.  "Der  Teufel  auf 
Riesen,"  two  volumes,  Frankfurt  and  Leipzig,  1789.  See  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,  1789, 
I,  p.  826.  Knigge's  books  of  travels  also  share  in  this  enlivening  and  subjectiv- 
izing  of  the  traveler's  narrative. 


92 

ney  was  personal  and  tinged  with  humor  was  essential  to  its 
popularity.  It  was  probably  purely  an  effort  to  make  use  of 
this  appeal  which  led  the  author  of  "Bemerkungen  eines 
Reisenden  durch  Deutschland,  Frankreich,  England  und  Hol- 
land,"^ a  work  of  purely  practical  observation,  to  place  upon  his 
title-page  the  alluring  lines  from  Gay:  "Life  is  a  jest  and  all 
things  shew  it.  I  thought  so  once,  but  now  I  know  it ;"  a 
promise  of  humorous  attitude  which  does  not  find  fulfilment  in 
the  heavy  volumes  of  purely  objective  description  which  follow. 

Probably  the  first  German  book  to  bear  the  name  Yorick 
in  its  title  was  a  short  satirical  sketch  entitled,  "Yorick  und  die 
Bibliothek  der  elenden  Scribenten,  an  Hrn, — "  1768,  8° 
(Anspach),-  which  is  linked  to  the  quite  disgustingly  scur- 
rilous Antikriticus  controversy. 

Attempts  at  whimsicality,  imitations  also  of  the  Shandean 
gallery  of  originals  appear,  and  the  more  particularly  Shan- 
dean style  of  narration  is  adopted  in  the  novels  of  the  period 
which  deal  with  middle-class  domestic  life.  Of  books  directly 
inspired  by  Sterne,  or  following  more  or  less  slavishly  his  guid- 
ance, a  considerable  proportion  has  undoubtedly  been  con- 
signed to  merited  oblivion.  In  many  cases  it  is  possible  to  de- 
termine from  contemporary  reviews  the  nature  of  the  individual 
product,  and  the  probable  extent  of  indebtedness  to  the  British 
model.  If  it  were  possible  to  find  and  examine  them  all  with 
a  view  to  establishing  extent  of  relationship,  the  identity  of 
motifs,  the  borrowing  of  thought  and  sentiment,  such  a  work 
would  give  us  little  more  than  we  learn  from  consideration  of 
representative  examples.  In  the  following  chapter  the  attempt 
will  be  made  to  treat  a  number  of  typical  products.  Baker  in 
his  article  on  Sterne  in  Germany  adopts  the  rather  hazardous 
expedient  of  judging  merely  by  title  and  taking  from  Goedeke's 
"Grundriss,"  works  which  suggests  a  dependence  on  Sterne.^ 

^  Altenburg,  Richter,  1775.  six  volumes. 

^  Reviewed  in  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  X,  2,  p.  127,  and  Neue  Critische  Nachrichten, 
Greifswald  V,  p.  222. 

^  Many  of  the  anonymous  books,  even  those  popular  in  their  day,  are  not  given 
by  Goedeke;  and  Baker,  judging  only  by  one  external,  naturally  misses  Sterne 
products  which  have  no  distinctively  imitative  title,  and  includes  others  which  have 
no  connection  with  Sterne.  For  example,  he  gives  Gellius's  "Yoricks  Nachgelas- 
sene  Werke,"  which  is  but  a  translation  of  the  Koran,  and  hence  in  no  way  an  ex- 


93 

The  early  relation  of  several  great  men  of  letters  to  Sterne 
has  been  already  treated  in  connection  with  the  gradual 
awakening  of  Germany  to  the  new  force.  Wieland  was  one  of 
Sterne's  most  ardent  admirers,  one  of  his  most  intelligent  in- 
terpreters ;  but  since  his  relationship  to  Sterne  has  been  made 
the  theme  of  special  study/  there  will  be  needed  here  but  a 
brief  recapitulation  with  some  additional  comment.  Especially 
in  the  productions  of  the  years  1768- 1774  are  the  direct  al- 
lusions to  Sterne  and  his  works  numerous,  the  adaptations  of 
motifs  frequent,  and  imitation  of  literary  style  unmistakable. 
Behmer  finds  no  demonstrable  evidence  of  Sterne's  influence 
in  Wieland's  work  prior  to  two  poems  of  the  year  1768, 
'"Endymions  Traum"  and  "Chloe;"  but  in  the  works  of  the 
years  immediately  following  there  is  abundant  evidence  both 
in  style  and  in  subject  matter,  in  the  fund  of  allusion  and  illus- 
tration, to  establish  the  author's  indebtedness  to  Sterne. 
Behmer  analyzes  from  this  standpoint  the  following  works: 
"Beitrage  zur  geheimen  Geschichte  des  menschlichen  Ver- 
standes  und  Herzens ;"  "Sokrates  Mainomenos  oder  die  Dia- 

ample  of  German  imitation;  he  gives  also  Schummel's  "Fritzens  Reise  nach  Dessau" 
(1776)  and  "Reise  nach  Schlesien"  (1792),  Nonne's  "Amors  Reisen  nach  Fockzana 
zum  Friedenscongress"  (1773),  none  of  which  has  anything  to  do  with  Sterne. 
"Trim  oder  der  Sieg  der  Liebe  iiber  die  Philosophic"  (Leipzig,  1776),  by  Ludw. 
Ferd.  v.  Hopffgarten,  also  cited  by  Baker,  undoubtedly  owes  its  name  only  to  Sterne. 
See  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gel.  Sachen,  1777,  p.  67,  and  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl., 
XXXIV,  2,  p.  484;  similarly  "Lottchens  Reise  ins  Zuchthaus"  by  Kirtsten,  1777,  is 
given  in  Baker's  list,  but  the  work  "Reise"  is  evidently  used  here  only  in  a  figura- 
tive sense,  the  story  being  but  the  relation  of  character  deterioration,  a  downward 
journey  toward  the  titular  place  of  punishment.  See  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von.  gel. 
Sachen,  1777,  pp.  739  flf.;  1778,  p.  12.  Allg  deutsche  Bibl,  XXXV,  i,  p.  182. 
Baker  gives  Bock's  "Tagereise"  and  "Geschichte  eines  empfundenen  Tages"  as  if 
they  were  two  different  books.  He  further  states:  "Sterne  is  the  parent  of  a  long 
list  of  German  Sentimental  Journeys  which  began  with  von  Thiimmel's  'Reise  in 
die  mittaglichen  Provinzen  Frankreichs.'  "  This  work  really  belongs  comparatively 
late  in  the  story  of  imitations.  Two  of  Knigge's  books  are  also  included.  See 
p.   166-7. 

1  "Laurence  Sterne  und  C.  M.  Wieland,  von  Karl  August  Behmer,  Forschungen 
zur  neueren  Litteraturgeschichte  IX.  Miinchen,  1899.  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Er- 
forschung  fremder  Einfliisse  auf  Wieland's  Dichtung."  To  this  reference  has  been 
made.  There  is  also  another  briefer  study  of  this  connection:  a  Programm  by  F. 
Bauer,  "Ueber  den  Einfluss,  Laurence  Sternes  auf  Chr.  M.  Wieland,"  Karlsbad, 
1898.  A.  Mager  published,  1890,  at  Marburg,  "Wieland's  Nachlass  des 
Diogenes  von  Sinope  und  das  englische  Vorbild,"  a  school  "Abhandlung,"  which 
dealt  with  a  connection  between  this  work  of  Wieland  and  Sterne.  Wood  ("Einfluss 
Fieldings  auf  die  deutsche  Litteratur,"  Yokohama,  1895)  finds  constant  imitation  of 
Sterne  in  "Don  Silvio,"  which,  from  Behmer's  proof  concerning  the  dates  of  Wie- 
land's acquaintance  with  bterne,  can  hardly  be  possible. 


94 

logen  des  Diogenes  von  Sinope ;"  "Der  neue  Amadis;"  "Der 
goldene  Spiegel ;"  "Geschichte  des  Philosophen  Dani- 
schmende ;"  "Gedanken  iiber  eine  alte  Aufschrift ;"  "Geschichte 
der  Abderiten."^ 

In  these  works,  but  in  different  measure  in  each,  Behmer 
finds  Sterne  copied  styHstically,  in  the  constant  conversations 
about  the  worth  of  the  book,  the  comparative  value  of  the  dif- 
ferent chapters  and  the  difficulty  of  managing  the  material,  in 
the  fashion  of  inconsequence  in  unexplained  beginnings  and 
abrupt  endings,  in  the  heaping  up  of  words  of  similar  meaning, 
or  similar  ending,  and  in  the  frequent  digressions.  Sterne  also 
is  held  responsible  for  the  manner  of  introducing  the  immorally 
suggestive,  for  the  introduction  of  learned  quotations  and  refer- 
ences to  authorities,  for  the  sport  made  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions and  the  satire  upon  all  kinds  of  pedantry  and  over- 
wrought enthusiasm.  Though  the  direct,  demonstrable  influ- 
ence of  Sterne  upon  Wieland's  literary  activity  dies  out 
gradually-  and  naturally,  with  the  growth  of  his  own  genius, 
his  admiration  for  the  English  favorite  abides  with  him,  pass- 
ing on  into  succeeding  periods  of  his  development,  as  his 
former  enthusiasm  for  Richardson  failed  to  do.^  More  than 
twenty  years  later,  when  more  sober  days  had  stilled  the  first 
unbridled  outburst  of  sentimentalism,  Wieland  speaks  yet  of 
Sterne  in  terms  of  unaltered  devotion :  in  an  article  published 
in  the  Merkur*  Sterne  is  called  among  all  authors  the  one 
"from  whom  I  would  last  part,"^  and  the  subject  of  the  article 
itself  is  an  indication  of  his  concern  for  the  fate  of  Yorick 
among  his  fellow-countrymen.  It  is  in  the  form  of  an  epistle 
to  Herr  .  .  .  .  zu  D.,  and  is  a  vigorous  protest  against  heed- 
less imitation  of  Sterne,  representing  chiefly  the  perils  of  such 
endeavor  and  the  bathos  of  the  failure.     Wieland  includes  in 

^  Some  other  works  are  mentioned  as  containing  references  and  allusions. 

-  In  "Oberon"  alone  of  Wieland's  later  works  does  Behmer  discover  Sterne's 
influence  and  there  no  longer  in  the  style,  but  in  the  adaptation  of  motif. 

"  See  Erich  Schmidt's  "Richardson,  Rousseau  und  Goethe,"  Jena,  1875,  pp.  46-7. 

*  1790,  I,  pp.  209-16. 

'  This  may  be  well  compared  with  Wieland's  statements  concerning  Shandy  in 
his  review  of  the  Bode  translation  (Merkur,  VIII,  pp.  247-51,  1774),  which  forms 
one  of  the  most  exaggerated  expressions  of  adoration  in  the  whole  epoch  of  Sterne's 
popularity. 


95 

the  letter  some  "specimen  passages  from  a  novel  in  the  style  of 
Tristram  Shandy,"  which  he  asserts  were  sent  him  by  the 
author.  The  quotations  are  almost  flat  burlesque  in  their 
impossible  idiocy,  and  one  can  easily  appreciate  Wieland's 
despairing  cry  with  which  the  article  ends. 

A  few  words  of  comment  upon  Behmer's  work  will  be  in 
place.  He  accepts  as  genuine  the  two  added  volumes  of  the 
Sentimental  Journey  and  the  Koran,  though  he  admits  that  the 
former  were  published  by  a  friend,  not  ''without  additions  of 
his  own,"  and  he  uses  these  volumes  directly  at  least  in  one  in- 
stance in  establishing  his  parallels,  the  rescue  of  the  naked 
woman  from  the  fire  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Journey,  and 
the  similar  rescue  from  the  waters  in  the  "Nachlass  des 
Diogenes."^  That  Sterne  had  any  connection  with  these 
volumes  is  improbable,  and  the  Koran  is  surely  a  pure  fabrica- 
tion. Behmer  seeks  in  a  few  words  to  deny  the  reproach  cast 
upon  Sterne  that  he  had  no  understanding  of  the  beauties  of 
nature,  but  Behmer  is  certainly  claiming  too  much  when  he 
speaks  of  the  "Farbenprachtige  Schilderungen  der  ihm  unge- 
wohnten  sonnenverklarten  Landschaft,"  which  Sterne  gives  us 
"repeatedly"  in  the  Sentimental  Journey,  and  he  finds  his  most 
secure  evidence  for  Yorick's  "genuine  and  pure"  feeling  for 
nature  in  the  oft-quoted  passage  beginning,  "I  pity  the  man 
who  can  travel  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  and  cry  '  'Tis  all  bar- 
ren.' "  It  would  surely  be  difficult  to  find  these  repeated  in- 
stances, for,  in  the  whole  work,  Sterne  gives  absolutely  no  de- 
scription of  natural  scenery  beyond  the  most  casual,  incidental 
reference :  the  familiar  passage  is  also  misinterpreted,  it  be- 
trays no  appreciation  of  inanimate  nature  in  itself,  and  is  but  a 
cry  in  condemnation  of  those  who  fail  to  find  exercise  for  their 
sympathetic  emotions.  Sterne  mentions  the  'sweet  myrtle" 
and  "melancholy  cypress,"^  not  as  indicative  of  his  own  affec- 
tion for  nature,  but  as  exemplifying  his  own  exceeding  per- 
sonal need  of  expenditure  of  human  sympathy,  as  indeed  the 

^  Since  Germany  did  not  sharply  separate  the  work  of  Sterne  from  his  con- 
tinuator,  this  is,  of  course,  to  be  classed  from  the  German  point  of  view  at  that  time 
as  a  borrowing  from  Sterne.  Mager  in  his  study  depends  upon  the  Eugenius  con- 
tinuation for  this  and  several  other  parallels. 

-Sentimental  Journey,   pp.   oi'32. 


96 

very  limit  to  which  sensibility  can  go,  when  the  desert  denies 
possibility  of  human  intercourse.  Sterne's  attitude  is  much 
better  illustrated  at  the  beginning  of  the  "Road  to  Versailles"  : 
"As  there  was  nothing  in  this  road,  or  rather  nothing  which  I 
look  for  in  traveling,  I  cannot  fill  up  the  blank  better  than  with 
a  short  history  of  this  self-same  bird."  In  other  words,  he 
met  no  possibility  for  exercising  the  emotions.  Behmer's 
statement  with  reference  to  Sterne,  "that  his  authorship  pro- 
ceeds anyway  from  a  parody  of  Richardson,"  is  surely  not  de- 
monstrable, nor  that  "this  whole  fashion  of  composition  is  indeed 
but  ridicule  of  Richardson."  Richardson's  star  had  paled  per- 
ceptibly before  Sterne  began  to  write,  and  the  period  of  his 
immense  popularity  lies  nearly  twenty  years  before.  There  is 
not  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  that  his  works  have  any 
connection  whatsoever  with  Richardson's  novels.  One  is 
tempted  to  think  that  Behmer  confuses  Sterne  with  Fielding, 
whose  career  as  a  novelist  did  begin  as  a  parodist  of  the  vain 
little  printer.  That  the  "Starling"  in  the  Sentimental  Journey, 
which  is  passed  on  from  hand  to  hand,  and  the  burden  of  gov- 
ernment which  wanders  similarly  in  "Der  Goldene  Spiegel" 
constitute  a  parallelism,  as  Behmer  suggests  (p.  48),  seems 
rather  far-fetched.  It  could  also  be  hardly  demonstrated  that 
what  Behmer  calls  "die  Sternische  Einfiihrungsweise"^  (p. 
54),  as  used  in  the  "Geschichte  der  Abderiten,"  is  peculiar  to 
Sterne  or  even  characteristic  of  him.  Behmer  (p.  19)  seems 
to  be  ignorant  of  any  reprints  or  translations  of  the  Koran, 
the  letters  and  the  sermons,  save  those  coming  from  Switz- 
erland. 

Bauer's  study  of  the  Sterne-Wieland  relation  is  much  briefer 
(thirty-five  pages)  and  much  less  satisfactory  because  less 
thorough,  yet  it  contains  some  few  valuable  individual  points 
and  cited  parallelisms.  Bauer  errs  in  stating  that  Shandy  ap- 
peared 1759-67  in  York,  implying  that  the  whole  work  was 
issued  there.  He  gives  the  dates  of  Sterne's  first  visit  to  Paris, 
also  incorrectly,  as  1760-62. 

Finally,  Wieland  cannot  be  classed  among  the  slavish  im- 

^  "Ich  denke  nicht,  dass  es  Sie  gereuen  wird,  den  Mann  naher  kennen  zu 
lernen"  spoken  of  Demokritus  in   "Die  Abderiten;"  see  Mcrkur,   1774,   I,  p.   56. 


97 

itators  of  Yorick ;  he  is  too  independent  a  thinker,  too  insistent 
a  pedagogue  to  allow  himself  to  be  led  more  than  outwardly  by 
the  foreign  model.  He  has  something  of  his  own  to  say  and 
is  genuinely  serious  in  a  large  portion  of  his  own  philosophic 
speculations :  hence,  his  connection  with  Sterne,  being  largely 
stylistic  and  illustrative,  may  be  designated  as  a  drapery  of  for- 
eign humor  about  his  own  seriousness  of  theorizing.  Wie- 
land's  Hellenic  tendencies  make  the  use  of  British  humor  all 
the  more  incongruous.^ 

Herder's  early  acquaintance  with  Sterne  has  been  already 
treated.  Subsequent  writings  offer  also  occasional  indication 
of  an  abiding  admiration.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Paris  he 
wrote  to  Hartknoch  praising  Sterne's  characterization  of  the 
French  people.-  The  fifth  "Waldchen,"  which  is  concerned 
with  the  laughable,  contains  reference  to  Sterne.^ 

With  Lessing  the  case  is  similar :  a  striking  statement  of  per- 
sonal regard  has  been  recorded,  but  Lessing's  literary  work  of 
the  following  years  does  not  betray  a  significant  influence  from 
Yorick.  To  be  sure,  allusion  is  made  to  Sterne  a  few  times  in 
letters*  and  elsewhere,  but  no  direct  manifestation  of  devotion 
is  discoverable.  The  compelling  consciousness  of  his  own  mes- 
sage, his  vigorous  interest  in  deeper  problems  of  religion  and 
philosophy,  the  then  increasing  worth  of  native  German  liter- 
ature, may  well  have  overshadowed  the  influence  of  the  volatile 
Briton. 

Goethe's  expressions  of  admiration  for  Sterne  and  indebted- 
ness to  him  are  familiar.  Near  the  end  of  his  life  (December 
i6,  1828),  when  the  poet  was  interested  in  observing  the  history 
and  sources  of  his  own  culture,  and  was  intent  upon  recording 

^  Wieland's  own  genuine  appreciation  of  Sterne  and  understanding  of  his  char- 
acteristics is  indicated  incidentally  in  a  review  of  a  Swedish  book  in  the  Teutscher 
Merkur,  1782,  II,  p.  192,  in  which  he  designates  the  description  of  sentimental  jour- 
neying in  the  seventh  book  of  Shandy  as  the  best  of  Sterne's  accomplishment,  as 
greater  than  the  Journey  itself,  a  judgment  emanating  from  a  keen  and  true 
knowledge  of  Sterne. 

*  Lebensbild,  V,  Erlangen,  1846,  p.  89.  Letter  to  Hartknoch,  Paris,  November, 
1769.  In  connection  with  his  journey  and  his  "Reisejournal,"  he  speaks  of  his 
"Tristramschen   Meynungen."     See   Lebensbild,   Vol.    V,   p.   61. 

5  Suphan,  IV,  p.  190.  For  further  reference  to  Sterne  in  Herder's  letters,  see 
"Briefe  Herders  an  Hamann,"  edited  by  Otto  Hoffmann,  Berlin,  1889,  pp.  28,  51,  57, 
71,  78.  194- 

*  Lachmann   edition,   Berlin,    1840,   XII,   pp.    212,   240. 

7 


98 

his  own  experience  for  the  edification  and  clarification  of  the 
people,  he  says  in  conversation  with  Eckermann :  "I  am  in- 
finitely indebted  to  Shakespeare,  Sterne  and  Goldsmith."^  And 
a  year  later  in  a  letter  to  Zelter,-  (Weimar,  December  25, 
1829),  "The  influence  Goldsmith  and  Sterne  exercised  upon 
me,  just  at  the  chief  point  of  my  development,  cannot  be  esti- 
mated. This  high,  benevolent  irony,  this  just  and  compre- 
hensive way  of  viewing  things,  this  gentleness  to  all  opposition, 
this  equanimity  under  every  change,  and  whatever  else  all  the 
kindred  virtues  may  be  termed — such  things  were  a  most  ad- 
mirable training  for  me,  and  surely,  these  are  the  sentiments 
which  in  the  end  lead  us  back  from  all  the  mistaken  paths  of 
life." 

In  the  same  conversation  with  Eckermann  from  which  the 
first  quotation  is  made,  Goethe  seems  to  defy  the  investigator 
who  would  endeavor  to  define  his  indebtedness  to  Sterne,  its 
nature  and  its  measure.     The  occasion  was  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  certain  writers  to  determine  the  authorship  of  certain 
distichs  printed  in  both  Schiller's  and  Goethe's  works.     Upon 
a  remark  of  Eckermann's  that  this  effort  to  hunt  down  a  man's 
originality  and  to  trace  sources  is  very  common  in  the  literary 
world,   Goethe   says :     "Das   ist   sehr   lacherlich,   man  konnte 
ebenso    gut    einen    wohlgenahrten    Mann    nach    den    Ochsen, 
Schafen  und  Schweinen  fragen,  die  er  gegessen  und  die  ihm 
Krafte  gegeben."     An  investigation  such  as  Goethe  seems  to 
warn  us  against  here  would  be  one  of  tremendous  difficulty,  a 
theme  for  a  separate  work.     It  is  purposed  here  to  gather  only 
information  with  reference  to  Goethe's  expressed  or  implied 
attitude  toward  Sterne,  his  opinion  of  the  British  master,  and 
to  note  certain  connections  between  Goethe's  work  and  that  of 
Sterne,  connections  which  are  obvious  or  have  been  already  a 
matter  of  comment  and  discussion. 

^Eckermann:  "Gesprache  mit  Goethe,"  Leipzig,  1885,  II,  p.  29;  or  Biedermann, 
'Goethe's  Gesprache,"  Leipzig,  iSgo,  VI,  p.  359. 

^  "Briefwechsel  zwischen  Goethe  und  Zelter,  in  den  Jahren,  1796-1832."  Ed.  by 
Fr.  W.  Riemer,  Berlin,  1833-4,  Vol.  V,  p.  349.  Both  ot  these  quotations  are 
cited  by  Siegmund  Levy,  "Goethe  und  Oliver  Goldsmith;"  Goethe-Jahrbuch,  VI, 
iSSs,  pp.  282  fF.     The  translation  in  this  case  is  from  that  of  A.  D.  Coleridge. 


99 

In  Strassburg-  under  Herder's^  guidance,  Goethe  seems  first 
to  have  read  the  works  of  Sterne.  His  life  in  Frankfurt  dur- 
ing the  interval  between  his  two  periods  of  university  residence 
was  not  of  a  nature  calculated  to  increase  his  acquaintance  with 
current  literature,  and  his  studies  did  not  lead  to  interest  in 
literary  novelty.  This  is  his  own  statement  in  "Dichtung  und 
Wahrheit."-  That  Herder's  enthusiasm  for  Sterne  was  gen- 
erous has  already  been  shown  by  letters  written  in  the  few  years 
previous  to  his  sojourn  in  Strassburg.  Letters  written  to 
Merck^  (Strassburg,  1770-1771)  would  seem  to  show  that  then 
too  Sterne  still  stood  high  in  his  esteem.  Whatever  the  exact 
time  of  Goethe's  first  acquaintance  with  Sterne,  we  know  that 
he  recommended  the  British  writer  to  Jung-Stilling  for  the  lat- 
ter's  cultivation  in  letters.*  Less  than  a  year  after  Goethe's 
departure  from  Strassburg,  we  find  him  reading  aloud  to  the 
Darmstadt  circle  the  story  of  poor  Le  Fevre  from  Tristram 
Shandy.  This  is  reported  in  a  letter,  dated  May  8,  1772,  by 
Caroline  Flachsland,  Herder's  fiancee.^  It  is  not  evident 
whether  they  read  Sterne  in  the  original  or  in  the  translation  of 
Ziickert,  the  only  one  then  available,  unless  possibly  the  reader 
gave  a  translation  as  he  read.  Later  in  the  same  letter,  Caro- 
line mentions  the  "Empfindsame  Reisen,"  possibly  meaning 
Bode's  translation.  She  also  records  reading  Shakespeare  in 
Wieland's  rendering,  but  as  she  speaks  later  still  of  peeping 
into  the  English  books  which  Herder  had  sent  Merck,  it  is 
a  hazardous  thing  to  reason  from  her  mastery  of  English  at 
that  time  to  the  use  of  original  or  translation  on  the  occasion 
of  Goethe's  reading. 

Contemporary  criticism  saw  in  the  Martin  of  "Gotz  von  Ber- 
lichingen"  a  likeness  to  Sterne's  creations  f  and  in  the  other 

>■  Griesebach :  "Das  Goetheische  Zeitalter  der  deutschen  Dichtung,"  Leipzig, 
1891,  p.  29. 

^  II,  loth  book,  Hempel,  XXI,  pp.  195  ff. 

3  "Briefe  an  Joh.  Heinrich  Merck  von  Gothe,  Herder,  Wieland  und  andern  be- 
deutenden  Zeitgenossen,"  edited  by  Dr.  Karl  Wagner,  Darmstadt,  1835,  p.  5;  and 
"Briefe  an  und  von  Joh.  Heinrich  Merck,"  issued  by  the  same  editor,  Darmstadt, 
1838,  pp.  5,  21. 

*  In  the  "Wanderschaft,"  see  J.  H.  Jung-Stilling,  Sammtliche  Werke.  Stuttgart, 
1835,  I,  p.  277. 

°  "Herder's  Briefwechsel  mit  seiner  Braut,  April,  1771,  to  April,  1773,"  edited 
by  Diintzer  and  F.  G.  von  Herder,  Frankfurt-am-Main,  1858,  pp.  247  ff. 

°  See  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ana.,   1774,  February  22. 


it 


100 

great  work  of  the  pre-Weimarian  period,  in  "Werther,"  though 
no  direct  influence  rewards  one's  search,  one  must  acknowledge 
the  presence  of  a  mental  and  emotional  state  to  which  Sterne 
was  a  contributor.  Indeed  Goethe  himself  suggests  this  rela- 
tionship. Speaking  of  "Werther"  in  the  "Campagne  in  Frank- 
reich,"^  he  observes  in  a  well-known  passage  that  Werther  did 
not  cause  the  disease,  only  exposed  it,  and  that  Yorick  shared 
in  preparing  the  ground-work  of  sentimentalism  on  which 
"Werther"  is  built. 

According  to  the  quarto  edition  of  1837,  the  first  series  of 
letters  from  Switzerland  dates  from  1775,  although  they  were 
not  published  till  1808,  in  the  eleventh  volume  of  the  edition 
begun  in  1806.  Scherer,  in  his  "History  of  German  Literature," 
asserts  that  these  letters  are  written  in  imitation  of  Sterne,  but 
it  is  difficult  to  see  the  occasion  for  such  a  statement.  The  let- 
ters are,  in  spite  of  all  haziness  concerning  the  time  of  their 
origin  and  Goethe's  exact  purpose  regarding  them,^  a  "frag- 
ment of  Werther's  travels"  and  are  confessedly  cast  in  a  senti- 
mental tone,  which  one  might  easily  attribute  to  a  Werther,  in 
whom  hyperesthesia  has  not  yet  developed  to  delirium,  an 
earlier  Werther.  Yorick's  whim  and  sentiment  are  quite  want- 
ing, and  the  sensuousness,  especially  as  pertains  to  corporeal 
beauty,  is  distinctly  Goethean. 

Goethe's  accounts  of  his  own  travels  are  quite  free  from 
the  Sterne  flavor;  in  fact  he  distinctly  says  that  through  the 
influence  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  all  records  of  journeys 
had  been  mostly  given  up  to  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the 
traveler,  but  that  he,  after  his  Italian  journey,  had  endeavored 
to  keep  himself  objective.^ 

Dr.  Robert  Riemann  in  his  study  of  Goethe's  novels,*  calls 
Friedrich  in  "Wilhelm  Meister's  Lehrjahre"  a  representative  of 
Sterne's  humor,  and  he  finds  in  Mittler  in  the  "Wahlverwandt- 
schaften"  a  union  of  seriousness  and  the  comic  of  caricature, 

^  Kiirschner  edition  of  Goethe,   Vol.   XXII,   pp.    146-7. 

^  See  introduction  by  Dun|ter  in  the  Kiirschner  edition,  XIII,  pp.  137  ff.,  and 
that  by  Fr.   Strehlke  in  the  Hempel  edition,  XVI.  pp.  217   ff. 

V      ^  Kurschner   edition,   Vol.   XXIV,  p.    15;   Tag-  und  Jahreshefte,    1789. 

■•  "Goethe's  Romantechnik,"  Leipzig,  1902.  The  author  here  incidentally  ex- 
presses the   opinion   that   Heinse   is  also   an  imitator   of   Sterne. 


101 

reminiscent  of  Sterne  and  Hippel.  Friedrich  is  mercurial, 
petulant,  utterly  irresponsible,  a  creature  of  mirth  and  laughter, 
subject  to  unreasoning  fits  of  passion.  One  might,  in  thinking 
of  another  character  in  fiction,  designate  Friedrich  as  faun- 
like. In  all  of  this  one  can,  however,  find  little  if  any  demon- 
strable likeness  to  Sterne  or  Sterne's  creations.  It  is  rather 
difficult  also  to  see  wherein  the  character  of  Mittler  is  reminis- 
cent of  Sterne.  Mittler  is  introduced  with  the  obvious  purpose 
of  representing  certain  opinions  and  of  aiding  the  develop- 
ment of  the  story  by  his  insistence  upon  them.  He  represents 
a  brusque,  practical  kind  of  benevolence,  and  his  eccentricity 
lies  only  in  the  extraordinary  occupation  which  he  has  chosen 
for  himself.  Riemann  also  traces  to  Sterne,  Fielding  and  their 
German  followers.  Goethe's  occasional  use  of  the  direct  appeal 
to  the  reader.  Doubtless  Sterne's  example  here  was  a  force  in 
extending  this  rhetorical  convention. 

It  is  claimed  by  GoebeP  that  Goethe's  "Homunculus,"  sug- 
gested to  the  master  partly  by  reading  of  Paracelsus  and  partly 
by  Sterne's  mediation,  is  in  some  characteristics  of  his  being 
dependent  directly  on  Sterne's  creation.  In  a  meeting  of  the 
"Gesellschaft  fiir  deutsche  Litteratur,"  November,  1896, 
Brandl  expressed  the  opinion  that  Maria  of  Moulines  was  a 
prototype  of  Mignon  in  'Wilhelm  Meister."^ 

The  references  to  Sterne  in  Goethe's  works,  in  his  letters  and 
conversations,  are  fairly  numerous  in  the  aggregate,  but  not 
especially  striking  relatively.  In  the  conversations  with  Eck- 
ermann  there  are  several  other  allusions  besides  those  already 
mentioned.  Goethe  calls  Eckermann  a  second  Shandy  for 
suffering  illness  without  calling  a  physician,  even  as  Walter 
Shandy  failed  to  attend  to  the  squeaking  door-hinge.=^  Ecker- 
mann himself  draws  on  Sterne  for  illustrations  in  Yorick's 
description  of  Paris,*  and  on  January  24,  1830,  at  a  time  when 
we  know  that  Goethe  was  re-reading  Sterne,  Eckermann  re- 

1  Julius  Goebel,  in  "Goethe- Jahrbuch,"  XXI,  pp.  208  ff. 
*  See  Euphorion,  IV,  p.  439. 
\  3  Eckermann,  III,  p.   155;  Biedermann,  VI,  p.  272. 
♦Eckermann,  III,  p.   170;  Biedermann,  VI,  p.  293. 


102 

fers  to  Yorick's  ( ?)  doctrine  of  the  reasonable  use  of  grief.^ 
That  Goethe  near  the  end  of  his  hfe  turned  again  to  Sterne's 
masterpiece  is  proved  by  a  letter  to  Zelter,  October  5,  1830;^ 
he  adds  here  too  that  his  admiration  has  increased  with  the 
years,  speaking  particularly  of  Sterne's  gay  arraignment  of 
pedantry  and  philistinism.  But  a  few  days  before  this,  October 
I,  1830,  in  a  conversation  reported  by  Riemer,^  he  expresses 
the  same  opinion  and  adds  that  Sterne  was  the  first  to  raise 
himself  and  us  from  pedantry  and  philistinism.  By  these  re- 
marks Goethe  commits  himself  in  at  least  one  respect  to  a  fa- 
vorable view  of  Sterne's  influence  on  German  letters.  A  few 
other  minor  allusions  to  Sterne  may  be  of  interest.  In  an 
article  in  the  Horen  (1795,  V  Stuck,)  entitled  "Literarischer 
Sansculottismus,"  Goethe  mentions  Smelfungus  as  a  type  of 
growler."*  In  the " Wander jahre"^ there  is  a  reference  to  Yorick's 
classification  of  travelers.  Diintzer,  in  Schnorr's  Archiv,'^  ex- 
plains a  passage  in  a  letter  of  Goethe's  to  Johanna  Fahlmer 
(August,  1775),  "die  Verworrenheiten  des  Diego  und  Juliens" 
as  an  allusion  to  the  "Intricacies  of  Diego  and  Julia"  in  Slaw- 
kenbergius's  tale,'^  and  to  the  traveler's  conversation  with  his 
beast.  In  a  letter  to  Frau  von  Stein^  five  years  later  ( Septem- 
ber 18,  1780)  Goethe  used  this  same  expression,  and  the  editor 
of  the  letters  avails  himself  of  Diintzer's  explanation.  Diint- 
zer further  explains  the  word  6€ohoKo<;,  used  in  Goethe's 
Tagebuch  with  reference  to  the  Duke,  in  connection  with  the 
term    ^coStSaKTos    applied  to  Walter  Shandy.     The  word  is, 

^  ^  Eckermann,  II.  p.  19;  Biedermann,  VII,  p.  184.  This  quotation  is  given  in  the 
Anhang  to  the  "Wanderjahre."  Loeper  says  (Hempel,  XIX,  p.  115)  that  he  has 
been  unable  to  find  it  anywhere  in  Sterne;  see  p.  105. 

-  See  "Briefwechsel  zwischen  Goethe  und  Zelter."  Zelter's  replies  contain  also 
reference  to  Sterne.  VI,  p.  33  he  speaks  of  the  Sentimental  Journey  as  "ein  bal- 
samischer  Friihlingsthau."  See  also  II,  p.  51;  VI,  p.  207.  Goethe  is  reported  as 
having  spoken  of  the  Sentimental  Journey:  "Man  konne  durchaus  nicht  besser 
ausdriicken,  wie  des  Menschen  Herz  ein  trotzig  und  verzagt  Ding  sei." 

^  "Mittheilungen    iiber    Goethe,"    von    F.    W.    Riemer,    Berlin,    1841,    II,    p.    658. 
Also,   Biedermann,   VII,   p.    332. 
V       *  See  Hempel,  XXIX,  p.  240. 

"  Kiirschner,  XVI,  p.  372. 

«  IX,  p.  438. 

'  See  "Briefe  von  Goethe  an  Johanna  Fahlmer,"  edited  by  L.  Ulrichs,  Leipzig, 
1875,  p.  91,  and  Shandy,  II,  pp.  70  and  48. 

w  *  "Goethe's  Briefe  an  Frau  von  Stein,"   hrsg.   von  Adolf  Scholl;   2te  Aufl,  bear- 
beitet  von  W.  Fielitz,  Frankfurt-am-Main,   1883,  \o\.  I,  p.  276. 


<lQPPr 


103 

however,  somewhat  illegible  in  the  manuscript.  It  was  printed 
thus  in  the  edition  of  the  Tagebuch  published  by  Robert  Keil, 
but  when  Diintzer  himself,  nine  years  after  the  article  in  the 
Archw,  published  an  edition  of  the  Tagebucher  he  accepted  a 
reading  ^coraTos,^  meaning,  as  he  says,  "ein  voller  Gott," 
thereby  tacitly  retracting  his  former  theory  of  connection  with 
Sterne. 

The  best  known  relationship  between  Goethe  and  Sterne  is 
in  connection  with  the  so-called  plagiarisms  in  the  appendix  to 
the  third  volume  of  the  " Wander jahre."  Here,  in  the  second 
edition,  were  printed  under  the  title  "Aus  Makariens  Archiv" 
various  maxims  and  sentiments.  Among  these  were  a  number 
of  sayings,  reflections,  axioms,  which  were  later  discovered  to 
have  been  taken  bodily  from  the  second  part  of  the  Koran,  the 
best  known  Sterne-forgery.  Alfred  Hedouin,  in  "Le  Monde 
Magonnique"  (1863),  i"  ^"  article  "Goethe  plagiaire  de 
Sterne,"  first  located  the  quotations. - 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  account  of  Robert 
Springer,  which  is  probably  the  last  published  essay  on  the 
subject.  It  is  entitled  "1st  Goethe  ein  Plagiarius  Lorenz 
Sternes?"  and  is  found  in  the  volume  "Essays  zur  Kritik  und 
Philosophic  und  zur  Goethe-Litteratur."''  Springer  cites  at 
some  length  the  liberal  opinions  of  Moliere,  La  Bruyere, 
Wieland,  Heine  and  others  concerning  the  literary  appropria- 
tion of  another's  thought.  He  then  proceeds  to  quote  Goethe's 
equally  generous  views  on  the  subject,  and  adds  the  uncritical 
fling  that  if  Goethe  robbed  Sterne,  it  was  an  honor  to  Sterne, 
a  gain  to  his  literary  fame.  Near  the  end  of  his  paper.  Springer 
arrives  at  the  question  in  hand  and  states  positively  that  these 
maxims,  with  their  miscellaneous  companions,  were  never  pub- 
lished by  Goethe,  but  were  found  by  the  editors  of  his  literary 
remains  among  his  miscellaneous  papers,  and  then  issued  in  the 

■^  '  References  to  the  Tagebucher  are  as  follows:  Robert  Keil's  Leipzig,  187s, 
p.   107,  and  Diintzer's,  Leipzig,  1889,  p.  73. 

''See  also  the  same  author's  "Goethe,  sa  vie  et  ses  oeuvres,"  Paris,  1866;  Ap- 
pendice  pp.  291-298.  Further  literature  is  found:  "\'ergleichende  Blatter  fiir  liter- 
arische  Unterhaltung,"  1863,  No.  36,  and  1869,  Nos.  10  and  14.  Morgenhlatt.  1863, 
Nr.  39,  article  by  Alex.  Biichner,  Sterne's  "Coran  und  Makariens  Archiv,  Goethe 
ein  Plagiator?"  and  DetUches  Museum,  1867,  No.  690.  p-y-^  ,, 
^  Minden  i.   VV.,   1885,  pp.  330-336. 

iL-;  . 


104 

ninth  volume  of  the  posthumous  works.  Hedouin  had  sug- 
gested this  possible  explanation.  Springer  adds  that  the 
editors  were  unaware  of  the  source  of  this  material  and  sup- 
posed it  to  be  original  with  Goethe. 

The  facts  of  the  case  are,  however,  as  follows:  "Wil- 
helm  Meister's  Wander jahre"  was  published  first  in  1821.^ 
In  1829,  a  new  and  revised  edition  was  issued  in  the 
"Ausgabe  letzter  Hand."  Eckermann  in  his  conversations 
with  Goethe^  relates  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
appendices  were  added  to  the  earlier  work.  When  the 
book  was  in  press,  the  publisher  discovered  that  of  the  three 
volumes  planned,  the  last  two  were  going  to  be  too  thin,  and 
begged  for  more  material  to  fill  out  their  scantiness.  In  this 
perplexity  Goethe  brought  to  Eckermann  two  packets  of  mis- 
cellaneous notes  to  be  edited  and  added  to  those  two  slender 
volumes.  In  this  way  arose  the  collection  of  sayings,  scraps 
and  quotations  'Tm  Sinne  der  Wanderer"  and  "Aus  Makariens 
Archiv."  It  was  later  agreed  that  Eckermann,  when  Goethe's 
literary  remains  should  be  published,  should  place  the  matter 
elsewhere,  ordered  into  logical  divisions  of  thought.  All  of  the 
sentences  here  under  special  consideration  were  published  in 
the  twenty-third  volume  of  the  "Ausgabe  letzter  Hand,"  which 
is  dated  1830,^  and  are  to  be  found  there,  on  pages  271-275  and 
278-281.  They  are  reprinted  in  the  identical  order  in  the  ninth 
volume  of  the  "Nachgelassene  Werke,"  which  also  bore  the  title. 
Vol.  XLIX  of  "Ausgabe  letzter  Hand,"  there  found  on  pages 
121-125  and  127-131.  Evidently  Springer  found  them  here  in 
the  posthumous  works,  and  did  not  look  for  them  in  the  pre- 
vious volume,  which  was  published  two  years  or  thereabouts 
before  Goethe's  death. 

Of  the  sentiments,  sentences  and  quotations  dealing  with 
Sterne,  there  are  twenty  which  are  translations  from  the 
Koran,  in  Loeper's  edition  of  "Spriiche  in  Prosa,"*  Nos.  491- 
507  and  543-544 ;  seventeen  others  (Nos.  490,  508-509,  521-533. 

^  "Druck  vollendet  in  Mai"  according  to   Baumgartner,  III,  p.  292: 
''^11,  pp.  230-233.      May   15,   1831.  ^ 

'  Goedeke  gives  Vol.  XXIII,  A.  1.  H.  as  1829. 

*  Hempel,  XIX,  "Spriiche  in  Prosa,"  edited  by  G.  von  Loeper,  Maximen  und  Re- 
flexionen;  pp.  io6-iii  and   113-117. 


105 

535)  contain  direct  appreciative  criticism  of  Sterne;  No.  538 
is  a  comment  upon  a  Latin  quotation  in  the  Koran  and  No.  545 
is  a  translation  of  another  quotation  in  the  same  work.  No. 
532  gives  a  quotation  from  Sterne,  "Ich  habe  mein  Elend  nicht 
wie  ein  weiser  Mann  benutzt,"  which  Loeper  says  he  has  been 
unable  to  find  in  any  of  Sterne's  works.  It  is,  however,  in  a 
letter^  to  John  Hall  Stevenson,  written  probably  in  August, 
1 76 1.  The  translation  here  is  inexact.  Loeper  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  finding  Nos.  534,  536,  537,  although  their  position  indi- 
cates that  they  were  quotations  from  Sterne,  but  No.  534  is  in 
a  letter  to  Garrick  from  Paris,  March  19,  1762.  The  German 
translation  however  conveys  a  dififerent  impression  from  the 
original  English.  The  other  two  are  not  located ;  in  spite  of  their 
position,  the  way  in  which  the  book  was  put  together  would 
certainly  allow  for  the  possibility  of  extraneous  material  creep- 
ing in.  At  their  first  appearance  in  the  "Ausgabe  letzter 
Hand,"  five  Spriiche,  Nos.  491,  543,  534,  536,  537,  were  sup- 
plied with  quotation  marks,  though  the  source  was  not  indi- 
cated. Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  most  of  the  quotations  were 
published  as  original  during  Goethe's  lifetime,  but  he  prob- 
ably never  considered  it  of  sufficient  consequence  to  disavow 
their  authorship  in  public.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  way 
in  which  they  were  forced  into  "Wilhelm  Meister"  was  distaste- 
ful to  him  afterwards,  and  he  did  not  care  to  call  attention  to 
them. 

Goethe's  opinion  of  Sterne  as  expressed  in  the  sentiments 
which  accompany  the  quotations  from  the  Koran  is  signifi- 
cant. "Yorick  Sterne,"  he  says,  "war  der  schonste  Geist,  der 
je  gewirkt  hat;  wer  ihn  liest,  fiihlet  sich  sogleich  frei  und 
schon;  sein  Humor  ist  unnachahmlich,  und  nicht  jeder  Humor 
befreit  die  Seele"  (490).  "Sagacitat  und  Penetration  sind 
bei  ihm  grenzenlos"  (528).  Goethe  asserts  here  that  every 
person  of  culture  should  at  that  very  time  read  Sterne's  works, 
so  that  the  nineteenth  century  might  learn  "what  we  owed  him 
and  perceive  what  we  might  owe  him."  Goethe  took  Sterne's 
narrative  of  his  journey  as  a  representation  of  an  actual  trip, 
or  else  he  is  speaking  of   Sterne's   letters   in  the   following: 

^  Letters,  I,  p.  54.  '' 


106 

"Seine  Heiterkeit,  Geniigsamkeit,  Duldsamkeit  auf  der  Reise, 
wo  diese  Eigenschaften  am  meisten  gepriift  werden,  finden 
nicht  leicht  Ihresgleichen"  (No.  529),  and  Goethe's  opinion  of 
Sterne's  indecency  is  characteristic  of  Goethe's  attitude.  He 
says :  "Das  Element  der  Liisternheit,  in  dem  er  sich  so  zierHch 
und  sinnig  benimmt,  wiirde  vielen  Andern  zum  Verderben 
gereichen." 

The  juxtaposition  of  these  quotations  and  this  appreciation 
of  Sterne  is  proof  sufficient  that  Goethe  considered  Sterne  the 
author  of  the  Koran  at  the  time  when  the  notes  were  made. 
At  precisely  what  time  this  occurred  it  is  now  impossible  to 
determine,  but  the  drift  of  the  comment,  combined  with  our 
knowledge  from  sources  already  mentioned,  that  Goethe 
turned  again  to  Sterne  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  would 
indicate  that  the  quotations  were  made  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
twenties,  and  that  the  re-reading  of  Sterne  included  the  Koran. 
Since  the  translations  which  Goethe  gives  are  not  identical  with 
those  in  the  rendering  ascribed  to  Bode  (1778),  Loeper  sug- 
gests Goethe  himself  as  the  translator  of  the  individual  quota- 
tions. Loeper  is  ignorant  of  the  earlier  translation  of  Gellius, 
which  Goethe  may  have  used.^ 

There  is  yet  another  possibility  of  connection  between 
Goethe  and  the  Koran.  This  work  contained  the  story  of  the 
Graf  von  Gleichen,  which  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  a  pre- 
cursor of  Goethe's  "Stella."  Diintzer  in  his  "Erlauterungen  zu 
den  deutschen  Klassikern"  says  it  is  impossible  to  determine 
whence  Goethe  took  the  story  for  "Stella."  He  mentions  that 
it  was  contained  in  Bayle's  Dictionary,  which  is  known  to  have 
been  in  Goethe's  father's  library,  and  two  other  books,  both 
dating  from  the  sixteenth  century,  are  noted  as  possible 
sources.  It  seems  rather  more  probable  that  Goethe  found 
the  story  in  the  Koran,  which  was  published  but  a  few  years 
before  "Stella"  was  written  and  translated  but  a  year  later, 

^  This  seems  very  odd  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  Loeper's  edition  of  "Dichtung 
und  Wahrheit"  (Hempel,  XXII,  p,  264)  Gellius  is  referred  to  as  "the  translator 
of  Lillo  and  Sterne."  It  must  be  that  Loeper  did  not  know  that  Gellius's  "Yorick's 
Nachgelassene  Werke"  was  a  translation  of  the  Koran. 


107 

lyyi,  that  is,  but  four  years,  or  even  less,  before  the  appearance 
of  "Stella"  (1775).^ 

Precisely  in  the  spirit  of  the  opinions  quoted  above  is  the 
little  essay^  on  Sterne  which  w^as  published  in  the  sixth  volume 
of  "Ueber  Kunst  und  Alterthum,"  in  which  Goethe  designates 
Sterne  as  a  man  "who  first  stimulated  and  propagated  the 
great  epoch  of  purer  knowledge  of  humanity,  noble  toleration 
and  tender  love,  in  the  second  half  of  the  last  century."  Goethe 
further  calls  attenion  to  Sterne's  disclosure  of  human  peculiar- 
ities (Eigenheiten),  and  the  importance  and  interest  of  these 
native,  governing  idiosyncrasies. 

These  are,  in  general,  superficial  relationships.  A  thorough 
consideration  of  these  problems,  especially  as  concerns  the  cul- 
tural indebtedness  of  Goethe  to  the  English  master  would  be  a 
task  demanding  a  separate  work.  Goethe  was  an  assimilator 
and  summed  up  in  himself  the  spirit  of  a  century,  the  attitude 
of  predecessors  and  contemporaries. 

C.  F.  D.  Schubart  wrote  a  poem  entitled  "Yorick,"^  begin- 
ning 

"AIs  Yorik  starb,  da  flog 
Sein  Seelchen  auf  gen  Himmel 
So  leicht  wie  ein  Seufzerchen." 

The  angels  ask  him  for  news  of  earth,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  poem  is  occupied  with  his  account  of  human  fate.  The  re- 
lation is  quite  characteristic  of  Schubart  in  its  gruesomeness, 
its  insistence  upon  all-surrounding  death  and  dissolution ;  but 
it  contains  no  suggestion  of  Sterne's  manner,  or  point  of  view. 
The  only  explanation  of  association  between  the  poem  and  its 
title  is  that  Schubart  shared  the  one-sided  German  estimate  of 
Sterne's  character  and  hence  represented  him  as  a  sympathetic 
messenger  bringing  to  heaven  on  his  death  some  tidings  of 
human  weakness. 

In  certain  other  manifestations,  relatively  subordinate,  the 
German  literature  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 

1  The  problem  involved  in  the  story  of  Count  Gleichen  was  especially  sym- 
pathetic to  the  feeling  of  the  eighteenth  century.  See  a  series  of  articles  by  Fr. 
Helbig  in  Magasin  fiir  Litteratur  des  In-  und  Auslandes,  Vol.  60,  pp.  102-5;  120-2; 
136-9.      "Zur  Geschichte  des  Problems  des  Grafen  von  Gleichen." 

-Weimar  edition,  Vol.  XLI,  2,  pp.  252-253. 

^  Gesammelte   Schriften,   Stuttgart,   1839,   IV,  pp.   272-3. 


108 

and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  and  the  Hfe  embodied 
therein  are  different  from  what  they  would  have  been  had  it 
not  been  for  Sterne's  example.  Some  of  these  secondary  fruits 
of  the  Sterne  cult  have  been  mentioned  incidentally  and  exem- 
plified in  the  foregoing  pages.  It  would  perhaps  be  conducive 
to  definiteness  to  gather  them  here. 

Sterne's  incontinuity  of  narration,  the  purposeful  irrelation 
of  parts,  the  use  of  anecdote  and  episode,  which  to  the  stumb- 
ling reader  reduce  his  books  to  collections  of  disconnected 
essays  and  instances,  gave  to  German  mediocrity  a  sanction  to 
publish  a  mass  of  multifarious,  unrelated,  and  nondescript 
thought  and  incident.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  spurious  books 
such  as  the  Koran,  which  Germany  never  clearly  sundered 
from  the  original,  were  direct  examples  in  England  of  such 
disjointed,  patchwork  books.  Such  a  volume  with  a  signifi- 
cant title  is  "Mein  Kontingent  zur  Modelectiire."^  Further,  ec- 
centricity in  typography,  in  outward  form,  may  be  largely  at- 
tributed to  Sterne's  influence,  although  in  individual  cases  no 
direct  connection  is  traceable.  Thus,  to  the  vagaries  of  Shandy 
is  due  probably  the  license  of  the  author  of  "Karl  Blumenberg, 
eine  tragisch-komische  Geschichte,"^  who  fills  half  pages  with 
dashes  and  whole  lines  with  "Ha!  Ha!" 

As  has  been  suggested  already,  Sterne's  example  was  potent 
in  fostering  the  use  of  such  stylistic  peculiarities,  as  the  direct 
appeal  to,  and  conversation  with  the  reader  about  the  work, 
and  its  progress,  and  the  various  features  of  the  situation.  It 
was  in  use  by  Sterne's  predecessors  in  England  and  by  their 

^Frankfurt  and  Leipzig,  1775.  See  Gothaisclie  Gel.  Zeitungen,  1776,  I,  pp. 
208-9,  and  Allg.  deiitsche  Bibl.,  XXXII,  i,  p.  139.  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gelehr- 
ten  Sachen,  September  27,  1776.  This  does  not  imply  that  Sterne  was  in  this  re- 
spect an  innovator;  such  books  were  printed  before  Sterne's  influence  was  felt,  e.  g., 
Magasin  von  Einfdllen,  Breslau,  1763  (?),  reviewed  in  Leipziger  Neue  Zeitungen 
von  Gelehrten  Sachen,  February  20,  1764.  See  also  "Reisen  im  Vaterlande, — Kein 
Roman  aber  ziemltch  theatralisch-politisch  und  satyrischen  Inhalts,"  two  volumes; 
Konigsberg  and  Leipzig,  1793-4,  reviewed  in  Allg.  Lift.  Zeitung,  1795,  III,  p.  30. 
"Der  Tandler,  oder  Streifereyen  in  die  Wildnisse  der  Einbildungskraft,  in  die 
Werke  der  Natur  und  menschlichen  Sitten,"  Leipzig,  1778  (?),  {Almanack  der 
deutschen  Musen,  1779,  p.  48).  "Meine  Geschichte  oder  Begehenheiten  des  Herrn 
Thomas:  ein  narkotisches  Werk  des  Doktor  Pifpuf,"  Munster  und  Leipzig,  1772,  pp. 
231,  8".  A  strange  episodical  conglomerate;  see  Magasin  der  deutschen  Critik,  II, 
P-    135- 

2  Leipzig,   178s  or  1786.     See  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung,   1786,  III,  p.  259. 


109 

followers  in  Germany,  before  Sterne  can  be  said  to  have  exer- 
cised any  influence ;  for  example,  Hermes  uses  the  device  con- 
stantly in  "Miss  Fanny  Wilkes,"  but  Sterne  undoubtedly  con- 
tributed largely  to  its  popularity.  One  may  perhaps  trace  to 
Sterne's  blank  pages  and  similar  vagaries  the  eccentricity  of  the 
author  of  "Ueber  die  Moralische  Schonheit  und  Philosophic 
des  Lebens,"^  whose  eighth  chapter  is  titled  "Vom  Stolz,  eine 
Erzahlung,"  this  title  occupying  one  page;  the  next  page  (210) 
is  blank ;  the  following  page  is  adorned  with  an  urnlike  decora- 
tion beneath  which  we  read,  "Es  war  einnial  ein  Priester." 
These  three  pages  complete  the  chapter.  The  author  of  "Dor- 
set und  Julie"  (Leipzig,  1773-4)  is  also  guilty  of  similar 
Yorickian  follies.^ 

Sterne's  ideas  found  approbation  and  currency  apart  from 
his  general  message  of  the  sentimental  and  humorous  attitude 
toward  the  world  and  its  course.  For  example,  the  hobby- 
horse theory  was  warmly  received,  and  it  became  a  permanent 
figure  in  Germany,  often,  and  especially  at  first,  with  playful 
reminder  of  Yorick's  use  of  the  term.^  Yorick's  mock-scien- 
tific division  of  travelers  seems  to  have  met  with  especial  ap- 
proval, and  evidently  became  a  part  of  conversational,  and 
epistolary  commonplace  allusion.  Goethe  in  a  letter  to  Mari- 
anne Willemer,  November  9,  1830,*  with  direct  reference  to 
Sterne  proposes  for  his  son,  then  traveling  in  Italy,  the  ad- 
ditional designation  of  the  "bold"  or  "complete"  traveler.  Carl 
August  in  a  letter  to  Knebel,^  dated  December  26,  1785,  makes 
quite  extended  allusion  to  the  classification.  Lessing  writes  to 
Mendelssohn  December  12,  1780:  "The  traveler  whom  you 
sent  to  me  a  while  ago  was  an  inquisitive  traveler.  The  one 
with  whom  I  now  answer  is  an  emigrating  one."  The  passage 
which  follows  is  an  apology  for  thus  adding  to  Yorick's  list. 

^  Altenburg,  1772,  by  von  Schirach  (?). 

*  See  Auserlesene  Bibl.  der  neuesten  deutschen  Litteratur,  IV,  pp.  320-325,  and 
VII,  pp.  227-234.     Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XXIII,  i,  p.  258;  XXVI,  i,  p.  209. 

^  Riedel  uses  it,  for  example,  in  his  "Launen  an  meinen  Satyr,"  speaking  of 
"mein  swiftisch  Steckenthier"  in  "Vermischte  Aufsatze,"  reviewed  in  Frankfurter 
Gel.  An:;.,   1772,   pp.   358-9.     Magazin   der  deutschen   Critik,    I,  pp.   290-293. 

*  "Briefwechsel  zwischen  Goethe  und  Marianne  Willemer  (Suleika)."  Edited  by 
Th.   Creizenach,  2d  edition;   Stuttgart,   1878,  p.   290. 

^  "K.  L.  von  Knebel's  literarischer  Nachlass  und  Briefwechsel;"  edited  by  Varn- 
hagen  von  Ense  and  Th.  Mundt,  Leipzig,  1835,  P-  i47- 


110 

The  two  travelers  were  respectively  one  Fliess  and  Alexander 
Daveson.^  Nicolai  makes  similar  allusion  to  the  "curious" 
traveler  of  Sterne's  classification  near  the  beginning  of  his 
"Beschreibung  einer  Reise  durch  Deutschland  und  die  Schweiz 
im  Jahre  i78i."2 

Further  search  would  increase  the  number  of  such  allusions 
indefinitely.  A  few  will  be  mentioned  in  the  following  chap- 
ter. 

One  of  Walter  Shandy's  favorite  contentions  was  the  fortu- 
itous dependence  of  great  events  upon  insignificant  details.  In 
his  philosophy,  trifles  were  the  determining  factors  of  exist- 
ence. The  adoption  of  this  theory  in  Germany,  as  a  principle 
in  developing  events  or  character  in  fiction,  is  unquestionable 
in  Wezel's  "Tobias  Knaut,"  and  elsewhere.  The  narrative, 
"Die  Grosse  Begebenheit  aus  kleinen  Ursachen"  in  the  second 
volume  of  the  Erholungcn,^  represents  a  wholesale  appropria- 
tion of  the  idea, — to  be  sure  not  new  in  Shandy,  but  most 
strikingly  exemplified  there. 

In  "Sebaldus  Nothanker"  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  is  a 
Sterne-like  hobby-horse  and  is  so  regarded  by  a  reviewer  in  the 
Magazin  der  deiitschen  Critik.^  Schottenius  in  Knigge's 
"Reise  nach  Braunschweig"  rides  his  hobby  in  the  shape  of  his 
fifty-seven  sermons.^  Lessing  uses  the  Steckenpferd  in  a  let- 
ter to  Mendelssohn,  November  5,  1768  (Lachmann  edition, 
XII,  p.  212),  and  numerous  other  examples  of  direct  or  in- 
direct allusion  might  be  cited.  Sterne's  worn-out  coin  was  a 
simile  adopted  and  felt  to  be  pointed.'* 

Jacob  Minor  in  a  suggestive  article  in  EuphorionJ  entitled 
"Wahrheit  und  Liige  auf  dem  Theater  und  in  der  Literatur," 
expressed  the  opinion  that  Sterne  was  instrumental  in  sharpen- 
ing powers  of  observation  with  reference  to  self-deception  in 
little  things,  to  all  the  deceiving  impulses  of  the  human  soul. 

*  See  Mendelssohn's  Schriften;  edited  by  G.  B  Mendelssohn,  Leipzig,   1844,  V, 
p.  202.     See  also  letter  of  Mendelssohn  to  Lessing,  February  18,  1780. 
^  Third  edition,  Berlin  and  Stettin,  1788,  p.   14. 
^U,  pp.  218  ff. 
^  II,  2,  p.  127. 

^  These  two  cases  are  mentioned  also  by  Riemann  in  "Goethe's  Romantechnik." 
"  See  Frankfurter  Gel.  Am.,  May  8,  1772,  p.  296. 
^  III,  pp.  276  flf. 


Ill 

It  is  held  that  through  Sterne's  inspiration  Wieland  and  Goethe 
were  rendered  zealous  to  combat  false  ideals  and  life-lies  in 
greater  things.  It  is  maintained  that  Tieck  also  was  schooled 
in  Sterne,  and,  by  means  of  powers  of  observation  sharpened 
in  this  way,  was  enabled  to  portray  the  conscious  or  uncon- 
scious life-lie. 


CHAPTER  VI 

IMITATORS  OF  STERNE 

Among  the  disciples  of  Sterne  in  Germany  whose  Hterary 
imitation  may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  their  master's  influ- 
ence, Johann  Georg  Jacobi  is  perhaps  the  best  known.  His  re- 
lation to  the  famous  "Lorenzodosen"  conceit  is  sufficient  to  link 
his  name  with  that  of  Yorick.  Martin^  asserts  that  he  was 
called  "Uncle  Toby"  in  Gleim's  circle  because  of  his  enthusiasm 
for  Sterne.  The  indebtedness  of  Jacobi  to  Sterne  is  the  sub- 
ject of  a  special  study  by  Dr.  Joseph  Longo,  "Laurence 
Sterne  und  Johann  Georg  Jacobi;"  and  the  period  of 
Jacobi's  literary  work  which  falls  under  the  spell  of  Yorick 
has  also  been  treated  in  an  inaugural  dissertation,  "Ueber 
Johann  Georg  Jacobi's  Jugendwerke,"  by  Georg  Ransohofif. 
The  detail  of  Jacobi's  indebtedness  to  Sterne  is  to  be  found  in 
these  two  works. 

Longo  was  unable  to  settle  definitely  the  date  of  Jacobi's  first 
acquaintance  with  Sterne.  The  first  mention  made  of  him  is  in 
the  letter  to  Gleim  of  April  4,  1769,  and  a  few  days  afterward, 
— April  10, — the  intelligence  is  afforded  that  he-  himself  is 
working  on  a  "journey."  The  "Winterreise"  was  pubhshed  at 
Diisseldorf  in  the  middle  of  June,  1769.  Externally  the  work 
seems  more  under  the  influence  of  the  French  wanderer 
Chapelle,  since  prose  and  verse  are  used  irregularly  alternat- 
ing, a  style  quite  different  from  the  English  model.  There 
are  short  and  unnumbered  chapters,  as  in  the  Sentimental  Jour- 
ney, but,  unlike  Sterne,  Jacobi,  with  one  exception,  names  no 
places  and  makes  no  attempt  at  description  of  place  or  people, 
other  than  the  sentimental  individuals  encountered  on  the  way. 
■  He  makes  no  analysis  of  national,  or  even  local  characteristics : 
the  journey,  in  short,  is  almost  completely  without  place-influ- 

^  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  II,  p.  27. 

112 


113 

ence.  There  is  in  the  volume  much  more  exuberance  of 
fancy,  grotesque  at  times,  a  more  conscious  exercise  of  the 
picturing  imagination  than  we  find  in  Sterne.  There  is 
use,  too,  of  mythological  figures  quite,  foreign  to  Sterne,  an 
obvious  reminiscence  of  Jacobi's  Anacreontic  experience.  He 
exaggerates  Yorick's  sentimentalism,  is  more  weepy,  more 
tender,  more  sympathizing ;  yet,  as  Longo  does  not  sufficiently 
emphasize,  he  does  not  touch  the  whimsical  side  of  Yorick's 
work.  Jacobi,  unlike  his  model,  but_  in  common  with  other 
German  imitators,  is  insistent  in  instruction  and  serious 
in  contention  for  pet  theories,  as  is  exemplified  by  the  discus- 
sion of  the  doctrine  of  immortality.  There  are  opinions  to  be 
maintained,  there  is  a  message  to  be  delivered.  Jacobi  in  this 
does  not  give  the  lie  to  his  nationality. 

Like  other  German  imitators,  too,  he  took  up  with 
especial  feeling  the  relations  between  man  and  the  animal 
world,  an  attitude  to  be  connected  with  several  familiar 
episodes  in  Sterne.^  The  two  chapters,  "Der  Heerd"  and 
"Der  Taubenschlag,"  tell  of  a  sentimental  farmer  who 
mourns  over  the  fact  that  his  son  has  cut  down  a  tree  in 
which  the  nightingale  was  wont  to  nest.  A  similar  senti- 
mental regard  is  cherished  in  this  family  for  the  doves,  which 
no  one  killed,  because  no  one  could  eat  them.  Even  as  Yorick 
meets  a  Franciscan,  Jacobi  encounters  a  Jesuit  whose  heart 
leaps  to  meet  his  own,  and  later,  after  the  real  journey  is  done, 
a  visit  to  a  lonely  cloister  gives  opportunity  for  converse  with  a 
monk,  like  Pater  Lorenzo, — tender,  simple  and  humane. 

The  "Sommerreise,"  according  to  Longo,  appeared  in  the 
latter  part  of  September,  1769,  a  less  important  work,  which, 
in  the  edition  of  1807,  Jacobi  considered  unworthy  of  preserva- 
tion. Imitation  of  Sterne  is  marked :  following  a  criticism  by 
Wieland  the  author  attempts  to  be  humorous,  but  with  du- 
bious success  ;  he  introduces  a  Sterne-like  sentimental  character 
which  had  not  been  used  in  the  "Winterreise,"  a  beggar-soldier, 

^Jacobi  remarked,  in  his  preface  to  the  "Winterreise"  in  the  edition  of  1807,  that 
this  section,  "Der  Taubenschlag"  is  not  to  be  reckoned  as  bearing  the  trace  of  the 
then  condemned  "Empfindeley,"  for  many  authors,  ancient  and  modern,  have  taken 
up  the  cause  of  animals  against  man;  yet  Sterne  is  probably  the  source  of  Jacobi's 
expression  of  his  feeling. 

8 


114 

and  he  repeats  the  motif  of  human  sympathy  for  animals  in  the 
story  of  the  lamb.  Sympathy  with  erring  womanhood  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  incidents  related  in  "Die  Fischerhiitte"  and  "Der 
Geistliche."  These  two  books  were  confessedly  inspired  by 
Yorick,  and  contemporary  criticism  treated  them  as  Yorick 
products.  The  Deutsche  Bihliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaf- 
ten,  published  by  Jacobi's  friend  Klotz,  would  naturally  favor 
the  volumes.  Its  review  of  the  "Winterreise"  is  non-critical 
and  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  denial  of  foreign  imitation. 
The  Allgemeine  deiitsche  Bihliothek,'^  in  reviewing  the  same 
work  pays  a  significant  tribute  to  Sterne,  praising  his  power  of 
disclosing  the  good  and  beautiful  in  the  seemingly  common- 
place. In  direct  criticism  of  the  book,  the  reviewer  calls  it  a 
journey  of  fancy,  the  work  of  a  youthful  poet  rather  than  that 
of  a  sensitive  philosopher.  Wieland  is  credited  with  the  as- 
tounding opinion  that  he  prefers  the  "Sommerreise"  to 
Yorick's  journey.^  Longo's  characterization  of  Sterne  is  in 
the  main  satisfactory,  yet  there  is  distinctly  traceable  the  ten- 
dency to  ignore  or  minimize  the  whimsical  elements  of  Sterne's 
work:  this  is  the  natural  result  of  his  approach  to  Sterne, 
through  Jacobi,  who  understood  only  the  sentimentalism  of 
the  English  master.^ 

Among  the  works  of  sentiment  which  were  acknowledged 
imitations  of  Yorick,  along  with  Jacobi's  "Winterreise,"  prob- 
ably the  most  typical  and  best  known  was  the  "Empfindsame 
Reisen  durch  Deutschland"  by  Johann  Gottlieb  Schummel. 
Its  importance  as  a  document  in  the  history  of  sentimentalism 
is  rather  as  an  example  of  tendency  than  as  a  force  contributing 
materially  to  the  spread  of  the  movement.     Its  influence  was 

'^  XI,  2,  pp.   i6  f. 

^  For  reviews  of  the  "Sommerreise"  see  Allg.  detitsche  Bibl.,  XIII,  i,  p.  261. 
Deutsche  Bibl.  der  schonen  Wissenschaften,  IV,  p.  354,  and  Neue  Critische  Nach- 
richten,  Greifswald,  V,  p.  406.  Almanach  der  deutschen  Mtisen,  1770,  p.  112.  The 
"Winterreise"  is  also  reviewed  there,  p.   110. 

^  Some  minor  points  may  be  noted.  Longo  implies  (page  2)  that  it  was  Bode's 
translation  of  the  original  Sentimental  Journey  which  was  re-issued  in  four 
volumes,  Hamburg  and  Bremen,  1769,  whereas  the  edition  was  practically  identical 
with  "the  previous  one,  and  the  two  added  volumes  were  those  of  Stevenson's  con- 
tinuation. Longo  calls  Sterne's  Eliza  "Elisha"  (p.  28)  and  Tristram's  father  be- 
comes Sir  Walter  Shandy  (p.  37),  an  unwarranted  exaltation  of  the  retired 
merchant. 


115 

probably  not  great,  though  one  reviewer  does  hint  at  a  follow- 
ing/ Yet  the  book  has  been  remembered  more  persistently 
than  any  other  work  of  its  genre,  except  Jacobi's  works,  un- 
doubtedly in  part  because  it  was  superior  to  many  of  its  kind, 
partly,  also,  because  its  author  won  later  and  maintained  a 
position  of  some  eminence,  as  a  writer  and  a  pedagogue ;  but 
largely  because  Goethe's  well-known  review  of  it  in  the  Frank- 
furter Gelehrte  Anseigen  has  been  cited  as  a  remarkably  acute 
contribution  to  the  discriminating  criticism  of  the  genuine  and 
the  affected  in  the  eighteenth-century  literature  of  feeling,  and 
has  drawn  attention  from  the  very  fact  of  its  source  to  the 
object  of  its  criticism. 

Schummel  was  born  in  May,  1748,  and  hence  was  but  twenty 
years  of  age  when  Germany  began  to  thrill  in  response  to 
Yorick's  sentiments.  It  is  probable  that  the  first  volume  was 
written  while  Schummel  was  still  a  university  student  in  1768- 
1770.  He  assumed  a  position  as  teacher  in  1771,  but  the 
first  volume  came  out  at  Easter  of  that  year;  this  would 
probably  throw  its  composition  back  into  the  year  before. 
The  second  volume  appeared  at  Michaelmas  of  the  same 
year.  His  publisher  was  Zimmermann  at  Wittenberg  and 
Zerbst,  and  the  first  volume  at  any  rate  was  issued  in  a  new 
edition.  The  third  volume  came  out  in  the  spring  of  1772.^ 
Schummel's  title,  "Empfindsame  Reisen,"  is,  of  course,  taken 
from  the  newly  coined  word  in  Bode's  title,  but  in  face  of  this 
fact  it  is  rather  remarkable  to  find  that  several  quotations  from 
Sterne's  Journey,  given  in  the  course  of  the  work,  are  from 
the  Mittelstedt  translation.  On  two  occasions,  indeed,  Schum- 
mel uses  the  title  of  the  Mittelstedt  rendering  as  first  published, 
"Versuch  liber  die  menschliche  Natur.''^* 

These  facts  lead  one  to  believe  that  Schummel  drew  his  in- 
spiration from  the  reading  of  this  translation.  This  is  interest- 
ing in  connection  with  Bottiger's  claim  that  the  whole  caval- 
cade of  sentimental  travelers  who  trotted  along  after  Yorick 
with  all  sorts  of  animals  and  vehicles  was  a  proof  of  the  excel- 
lence and  power  of  Bode's  translation.     As  one  would  natur- 

1  Review  in  the  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gel.  Sachen. 
21,  pp.  314  +  20;  II,  337;  III.  330. 
3  1,  p.   156;   III,  p.  318. 


116 

ally  infer  from  the  title  of  Schummel's  fiction,  the  Sentimental 
Journey  is  more  constantly  drawn  upon  as  a  source  of  ideas, 
motifs,  expression,  and  method,  than  Tristram  Shandy,  but  the 
allusions  to  Sterne's  earlier  book,  and  the  direct  adaptations 
from  it  are  both  numerous  and  generous.  This  fact  has  not 
been  recognized  by  the  critics,  and  is  not  an  easy  inference 
from  the  contemporary  reviews. 

The  book  is  the  result  of  an  immediate  impulse  to  imitation 
felt  irresistibly  on  the  reading  of  Sterne's  narrative.  That  the 
critics  and  readers  of  that  day  treated  with  serious  considera- 
tion the  efforts  of  a  callow  youth  of  twenty  or  twenty-one  in 
this  direction  is  indicative  either  of  comparative  vigor  of  exe- 
cution, or  of  prepossession  of  the  critical  world  in  favor  of  the 
hterary  genre, — doubtless  of  both.  Schummel  confesses  that 
the  desire  to  write  came  directly  after  the  book  had  been  read. 
"I  had  just  finished  reading  it,"  he  says,  "and  Heaven  knows 
with  what  pleasure,  every  word  from  'as  far  as  this  matter  is 
concerned'  on  to  T  seized  the  hand  of  the  lady's  maid,'  were 
imprinted  in  my  soul  with  small  invisible  letters."  The  char- 
acters of  the  Journey  stood  "life-size  in  his  very  soul."  Invol- 
untarily his  inventive  powers  had  sketched  several  plans  for 
a  continuation,  releasing  Yorick  from  the  hand  of  the  fille 
de  chambre.  But  what  he  attempts  is  not  a  continuation  but  a 
German  parallel. 

In  the  outward  events  of  his  story,  in  the  general  trend  of  its 
argument,  Schummel  does  not  depend  upon  either  Shandy  or 
the  Journey:  the  hero's  circumstances  are  in  general  not 
traceable  to  the  English  model,  but,  spasmodically,  the  manner 
of  narration  and  the  nature  of  the  incidents  are  quite  slavishly 
copied.  A  complete  summary  of  the  thread  of  incident  on 
which  the  various  sentimental  adventures,  whimsical  specula- 
tions and  digressions  are  hung,  can  be  dispensed  with :  it  is 
only  necessary  to  note  instances  where  connection  with  Sterne 
as  a  model  can  be  established.  Schummel's  narrative  is  often 
for  many  successive  pages  absolutely  straightforward  and 
simple,  unbroken  by  any  attempt  at  Shandean  buoyancy,  and 
unblemished  by  overwrought  sentiment.  At  the  pausing  places 
he  generally  indulges  in  Sternesque  quibbling. 


117 

A  brief  analysis  of  the  first  volume,  with  especial  reference  to 
the  appropriation  of  Yorick  features,  will  serve  to  show  the  ex- 
tent of  imitation,  and  the  nature  of  the  method.     In  outward 
form  the  Sentimental  Journey  is  copied.     The  volume  is  not 
divided  into  chapters,  but  there  are  named  divisions :  there  is 
also  Yorick-like  repetition  of  section-headings.     Naturally  the 
author  attempts  at  the  very  beginning  to  strike  a  note  dis- 
tinctly suggesting  Sterne:     "Is  he  dead,  the  old  cousin?"  are 
the  first  words  of  the  volume,  uttered  by  the  hero  on  receipt  of 
the  news,  and  in  Yorick  fashion  he  calls  for  guesses  concerning 
the  mien  with  which  the  words  were  said.     The  conversation 
of  the  various  human  passions  with  Yorick  concerning  the  ad- 
visability of  offering  the  lady  in  Calais  a  seat  in  his  chaise  is 
here  directly  imitated  in  the  questions  put  by  avarice,  vanity, 
etc.,  concerning  the  cousin's  death.     The  actual  journey  does 
not  begin  until  page  97,  a  brief  autobiography  of  the  hero  oc- 
cupying the  first  part  of  the  book;  this  inconsequence  is  con- 
fessedly   intended    to    be    a    Tristram    Shandy    whim.^     The 
author's    relation    to    his    parents    is    adapted    directly    from 
Shandy,   since   he   here   possesses   an   incapable,   unpractical, 
philosophizing  father,  who  determines  upon  methods  for  the 
superior  education  of  his  son ;  and  a  simple,  silly  mockery  of  a 
mother. 

Left,  however,  an  orphan,  he  begins  his  sentimental  ad- 
ventures: thrust  on  the  world  he  falls  in  with  a  kindly 
baker's  wife  whose  conduct  toward  him  brings  tears  to  the 
eyes  of  the  ten-year  old  lad,  this  showing  his  early  appetite  for 
sentimental  journeying.  A  large  part  of  this  first  section  re- 
lating to  his  early  life  and  youthful  struggles,  his  kindly  ben- 
efactor, his  adventure  with  Potiphar's  wife,  is  simple  and  di- 
rect, with  only  an  occasional  hint  of  Yorick's  influence  in  word 
or  phrase,  as  if  the  author,  now  and  then,  recalled  the  purpose 
and  the  inspiration.  For  example,  not  until  near  the  bottom 
of  page  30  does  it  occur  to  him  to  be  abrupt  and  indulge  in 
Shandean  eccentricities,  and  then  again,  after  a  few  lines,  he 
resumes  the  natural  order  of  discourse.  And  again,  on  page  83, 
he  breaks  off  into  attempted  frivolity  and  Yorick  whimsicality 

1  Schummel  states  this  himself,  III,  p.   320. 


118 

of  narration.  In  starting  out  upon  his  journey  the  author  says  : 
"I  will  tread  in  Yorick's  foot-prints,  what  matters  it  if  I  do 
not  fill  them  out  ?  My  heart  is  not  so  broad  as  his,  the  sooner  can 
it  be  filled  ;  my  head  is  not  so  sound  ;  my  brain  not  so  regularly 
formed.  My  eyes  are  not  so  clear,  but  for  that  he  was  born 
in  England  and  I  in  Germany ;  he  is  a  man  and  I  am  but  a 
youth,  in  short,  he  is  Yorick  and  I  am  not  Yorick."  He  de- 
termines to  journey  where  it  is  most  sentimental  and  passes 
the  various  lands  in  review  in  making  his  decision.  Having 
fastened  upon  Germany,  he  questions  himself  similarly  with 
reference  to  the  cities.  Yorick's  love  of  lists,  of  mock-serious 
discrimination,  of  inconsequential  reasonings  is  here  copied. 
The  call  upon  epic,  tragic,  lyric  poets,  musicians,  etc.,  which 
follows  here  is  a  further  imitation  of  Yorick's  list-making  and 
pseudo-scientific  method. 

On  his  way  to  Leipzig,  in  the  post-chaise,  the  author  falls  in 
with  a  clergyman :  the  manner  of  this  meeting  is  intended  to  be 
Sterne-like :  Schummel  sighs,  the  companion  remarks,  "You  too 
are  an  unhappy  one,"  and  they  join  hands  while  the  human 
heart  beams  in  the  traveler's  eyes.  They  weep  too  at  parting. 
But,  apart  from  these  external  incidents  of  their  meeting,  the 
matter  of  their  converse  is  in  no  way  inspired  by  Sterne.  It 
joins  itself  with  the  narrative  of  the  author's  visit  to  a  church 
in  a  village  by  the  wayside,  and  deals  in  general  with  the  nature 
of  the  clergyman's  relation  to  his  people  and  the  general  medioc- 
rity and  ineptitude  of  the  average  homiletical  discourse,  the 
failure  of  clerg}aTien  to  relate  their  pulpit  utterance  to  the  life 
of  the  common  Christian, — all  of  which  is  genuine,  sane  and 
original,  undoubtedly  a  real  protest  on  the  part  of  Schummel, 
the  pedagogue,  against  a  prevailing  abuse  of  his  time  and 
other  times.  This  section  represents  unquestionably  the 
earnest  convictions  of  its  author,  and  is  written  with  profes- 
sional zeal.  This  division  is  followed  by  an  evidently  pur- 
poseful return  to  Sterne's  eccentricity  of  manner.  The 
author  begins  a  division  of  his  narrative,  '"Der  zerbrochene 
Postwagen,"  which  is  probably  meant  to  coincide  with  the 
post-chaise  accident  in  Shandy's  travels,  writes  a  few  lines  in 
it,  then  begins  the  section  again,  something  like  the  interrupted 


119 

story  of  the  King  of  Bohemia  and  his  Seven  Castles,  Then  fol- 
lows an  abrupt  discursive  study  of  his  aptitudes  and  proclivi- 
ties, interspersed  with  Latin  exclamations,  interrogation  points 
and  dashes.  "What  a  parenthesis  is  that !"  he  cries,  and  a  few 
lines  further  on,  "I  burn  with  longing  to  begin  a  parenthesis 
again."  On  his  arrival  in  Leipzig,  Schummel  imitates 
closely  Sterne's  satirical  guide-book  description  of  Calais^ 
in  his  brief  account  of  the  city,  breaking  off  abruptly  like 
Sterne,  and  roundly  berating  all  "Reisebeschreiber."  Here 
in  fitting  contrast  with  this  superficial  enumeration  of 
facts  stands  his  brief  traveler's  creed,  an  interest  in  people 
rather  than  in  places,  all  of  which  is  derived  from  Sterne's 
chapter,  "In  the  Street,  Calais,"  in  which  the  master  dis- 
closes the  sentimental  possibilities  of  traveling  and  typifies 
the  superficial,  unemotional  wanderer  in  the  persons  of  Smel- 
fungus  and  Mundungus,  and  from  the  familiar  passage  in 
"The  Passport,  Versailles,"  beginning,  "But  I  could  wish  to 
spy  out  the  nakedness,  etc."  No  sooner  is  he  arrived  in  Leip- 
zig, than  he  accomplishes  a  sentimental  rescue  of  an  unfortu- 
nate woman  on  the  street.  In  the  expression  of  her  imme- 
diate needs,  Schummel  indulges  for  the  first  time  in  a  row  of 
stars,  with  the  obvious  intention  of  raising  a  low  suggestion, 
which  he  contradicts  with  mock-innocent  questionings  a  few 
lines  later,  thereby  fastening  the  attention  on  the  possibility  of 
vulgar  interpretation.  Sterne  is  guilty  of  this  device  in  nu- 
merous instances  in  both  his  works,  and  the  English  continua- 
tion of  the  Sentimental  Journey  relies  upon  it  in  greater  and 
more  revolting  measure. 

Once  established  in  his  hotel,  the  author  betakes  himself  to 
the  theater:  this  very  act  he  feels  will  bring  upon  him  the 
censure  of  the  critics,  for  Yorick  went  to  the  theater  too.  "A 
merchant's  boy  went  along  before  me,"  he  says  in  naive  de- 
fense, "was  he  also  an  imitator  of  Yorick?"  On  the  way  he 
meets  a  fair  maid-in-waiting,  and  the  relation  between  her  and 
the  traveler,  developed  here  and  later,  is  inspired  directly  by 
Yorick's  connection  with  the  fair  iille  de  chambre.  Schummel 
imitates   Sterne's  excessive  detail  of  description,  devoting  a 

1  Tristram  Shandy,  III,  5i-54- 


120 

whole  paragraph  to  his  manner  of  removing  his  hat  before 
a  lady  whom  he  encounters  on  this  walk  to  the  theater. 
This  was  another  phase  of  Sterne's  pseudo-scientific  method: 
he  describes  the  trivial  with  the  attitude  of  the  trained  ob- 
server, registering  minutely  the  detail  of  phenomena,  a  mock- 
parade  of  scholarship  illustrated  by  his  description  of  Trim's 
attitude  while  reading  his  sermon,  or  the  dropping  of  the  hat 
in  the  kitchen  during  the  memorable  scene  when  the  news  of 
Bobby's  death  is  brought. 

In  Schummel's  narration  of  his  adventures  in  the  house  of 
ill-repute  there  are  numerous  sentimental  excrescences  in  his 
conduct  with  the  poor  prisoner  there,  due  largely  to  Yorick's 
pattern,  such  as  their  weeping  on  one  another's  breast,  and  his 
wiping  away  her  tears  and  his,  drawn  from  Yorick's  amiable 
service  for  Maria  of  Moulines,  an  act  seemingly  expressing  the 
most  refined  human  sympathy.  The  remaining  events  of  this 
first  volume  include  an  unexpected  meeting  with  the  kind 
baker's  wife,  which  takes  place  at  Gellert's  grave.  Yorick's 
imitators  were  especially  fond  of  re-introducing  a  sentimental 
relationiship.  Yorick  led  the  way  in  his  renewed  acquaintance 
with  the  mie  de  chambre;  Stevenson  in  his  continuation  went 
to  extremes  in  exploiting  this  cheap  device. 

Other  motifs  derived  from  Sterne,  less  integral,  may  be 
briefly  summarized.  From  the  Sentimental  Journey  is  taken 
the  motif  that  valuable  or  interesting  papers  be  used  to  wrap 
ordinary  articles  of  trade :  here  herring  are  wrapped  in  frag- 
ments of  the  father's  philosophy;  in  the  Sentimental  Journey 
we  find  a  similar  degrading  use  for  the  "Fragment."  Schum- 
mel  breaks  off  the  chapter  "La  Naive,"^  under  the  Sternesque 
subterfuge  of  having  to  deliver  manuscript  to  an  insistent 
publisher.  Yorick  writes  his  preface  to  the  Journey  in  the 
"Desobligeant,"  that  is,  in  the  midst  of  the  narrative  itself. 
Schummel  modifies  the  eccentricity  merely  by  placing  his  fore- 
word at  the  end  of  the  volume.  The  value  of  it,  he  says,  will 
repay  the  reader  for  waiting  so  long, — a  statement  which  finds 
little  justification  in  the  preface  itself.     It  begins,   "Auweh! 

^  pp.  256-265. 


121 

Auweh !  Ouais,  Helas !  .  .  .  Diable,  mein  Riicken,  mein 
Fuss !"  and  so  on  for  half  a  page, — a  pitiful  efifort  to  follow  the 
English  master's  wilful  and  skilful  incoherence.  The  follow- 
ing pages,  however,  once  this  outbreak  is  at  an  end,  contain  a 
modicum  of  sense,  the  feeble,  apologetic  explanation  of  his 
desire  in  imitating  Yorick,  given  in  forethought  of  the  critics' 
condemnation.  Similarly  the  position  of  the  dedication  is  un- 
usual, in  the  midst  of  the  volume,  even  as  the  dedication  of 
Shandy  was  roguishly  delayed.  The  dedication  itself,  how- 
ever, is  not  an  imitation  of  Sterne's  clever  satire,  but,  addressed 
to  Yorick  himself,  is  a  striking  example  of  burning  personal 
devotion  and  over-wrought  praise.  Schummel  hopes^  in 
Sterne  fashion  to  write  a  chapter  on  "Voriibergeben,"  or  in  the 
chapter  "Das  Komodienhaus"  (pp.  185-210)  to  write  a  digres- 
sion on  "Walking  behind  a  maid."  Like  Sterne,  he  writes  in 
praise  of  digressions.^  In  imitation  of  Sterne  is  conceived  the 
digressive  speculation  concerning  the  door  through  which  at 
the  beginning  of  the  book  he  is  cast  into  the  rude  world. 
Among  further  expressions  savoring  of  Sterne,  may  be  men- 
tioned a  "Centner  of  curses"  (p.  39),  a  "Ouentchen  of 
curses,"  and  the  analytical  description  of  a  tone  of  voice  as 
one-fourth  questioning,  five-eighths  entreating  and  one-eighth 
commanding  (p.  229). 

The  direct  allusions  to  Sterne  and  his  works  are  numerous. 
A  list  of  Sterne  characters  which  were  indelibly  impressed 
upon  his  mind  is  found  near  the  very  beginning  (pp.  3-4)  ; 
other  allusions  are  to  M.  Dessein  (p.  65),  La  Fleur's  "Courier- 
stiefel"  (p.  115),  the  words  of  the  dying  Yorick  (p.  128),  the 
pococurantism  of  Mrs.  Shandy  (p.  187),  the  division  of  trav- 
elers into  types  (p.  141),  Uncle  Toby  (p.  200),  Yorick's  violin- 
playing  (p.  274),  the  foolish  fat  scullion  (p.  290),  Yorick's 
description  of  a  maid's  (p.  188)  eyes,  "als  ob  sie  zwischen  vier 
Wanden  einem  Garaus  machen  konnten." 

The  second  volume  is  even  more  incoherent  in  narration,  and 
contains  less  genuine  occurrence  and  more  ill-considered  at- 
tempts at  whimsicality,  yet  throughout  this  volume  there  are 

*P.  34. 

^Shandy,  I,  p.  75;  Schummel,  I,  p.  265. 


122 

indications  that  the  author  is  awakening  to  the  vuhierability  of 
his  position,  and  this  is  in  no  other  particular  more  easily  dis- 
cernible than  in  the  half-hearted  defiance  of  the  critics  and 
his  anticipation  of  their  censure.  The  change,  so  extraordi- 
nary in  the  third  volume,  is  foreshadowed  in  the  second. 
Purely  sentimental,  effusive,  and  abundantly  teary  is  the  story 
of  the  rescued  baker's  wife.  In  this  excess  of  sentiment, 
Schummel  shows  his  intellectual  appreciation  of  Sterne's  in- 
dividual treatment  of  the  humane  and  pathetic,  for  near  the 
end  of  the  poor  woman's  narrative  the  author  seems  to  recol- 
lect a  fundamental  sentence  of  Sterne's  creed,  the  inevitable 
admixture  of  the  whimsical,  and  here  he  introduces  into  the 
sentimental  relation  a  Shandean  idiosyncrasy :  from  page  43 
the  narrative  leaps  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  volume,  and 
Schummel  advises  the  reader  to  turn  back  and  re-read,  re- 
ferring incidentally  to  his  confused  fashion  of  narration.  The 
awkwardness  with  which  this  is  done  proves  Schummel 's  in- 
ability to  follow  Yorick,  though  its  use  shows  his  appreciation 
of  Sterne's  peculiar  genius.  The  visit  of  the  author,  the 
baker's  wife  and  her  daughter  (the  former  lady's  maid)  to  the 
graveyard  is  Yorickian  in  flavor,  and  the  plucking  of  nettles 
from  the  grave  of  the  dead  epileptic  is  a  direct  borrowing.  At- 
tempts to  be  immorally,  sensuously  suggestive  in  the  manner 
of  Sterne  are  found  in  the  so-called  chapter  on  "Button-holes," 
here  cast  in  a  more  Shandean  vein,  and  in  the  adventure  "die 
angstliche  Nacht," — in  the  latter  case  resembling  more  the  less 
frank,  more  insinuating  method  of  the  Sentimental  Journey. 
The  sentimental  attitude  toward  man's  dumb  companions  is 
imitated  in  his  adventure  with  the  house-dog ;  the  author  fears 
the  barking  of  this  animal  may  disturb  the  sleep  of  the  poor 
baker's  wife:  he  beats  the  dog  into  silence,  then  grows  re- 
morseful and  wishes  "that  I  had  given  him  no  blow,"  or  that 
the  dog  might  at  least  give  him  back  the  blows.  His  thought 
that  the  dog  might  be  pretending  its  pain,  he  designates  a 
subtle  subterfuge  of  his  troubled  conscience,  and  Goethe,  in 
the  review  mentioned  above,  exclaims,  "A  fine  pendant  to 
Yorick's  scene  with  the  Monk." 

Distinctly  Shandean  are  the  numerous  digressions,  as  on  imi- 


123 

tation  (p.  i6),  on  authors  and  fairs  (p.  45),  that  which  he  calls 
(pp.  226-238)  "ein  ganz  originelles  Gemische  von  Wiz,  Bele- 
senheit,  Scharfsinn,  gesunder  Philosophic,  Erfahrung,  Algebra 
und  Mechanik,"  or  (p.  253)  "Von  der  Entstehungsart  eines 
Buches  nach  Erfindung  der  Buchdrukerkunst,"  which  in  ref- 
erence to  Sterne's  phrase,  is  called  a  "jungfrauliche  Materie," 
He  promises  (pp.  75  and  108),  like  Sterne,  to  write  numerous 
chapters  on  extraordinary  subjects, — indeed,  he  announces  his 
intention  of  supplementing  the  missing  sections  of  Shandy  on 
"Button-holes"  and  on  the  "Right  and  Left  (sic)  end  of  a 
Woman."  His  own  promised  effusions  are  to  be  "Ueber  die 
roten  und  schwarzen  Roke,  "iiber  die  Verbindung  der  The- 
ologie  mit  Schwarz,"  "Europaischenfrauenzimmerschuhab- 
satze,"  half  a  one  "Ueber  die  Schuhsohlen"  and  "Ueber  meinen 
Namen." 

His  additions  to  Shandy  are  flat  and  witless,  that  on  the 
"Right  and  Wrong  End  of  a  Woman"  (pp.  88  ff.)  degenerating 
into  three  brief  narratives  displaying  woman's  susceptibility  to 
flattery,  the  whole  idea  probably  adapted  from  Sterne's  chapter, 
"An  Act  of  Charity;"  the  chapter  on  "Button-holes"  is  made 
a  part  of  the  general  narrative  of  his  relation  to  his  "Naive." 
Weakly  whimsical  is  his  seeking  pardon  for  the  discourse  with 
which  the  Frenchman  (pp.  62-66),  under  the  pretext  that  it 
belonged  somewhere  else  and  had  inadvertently  crept  in. 
Shandean  also  is  the  black  margin  to  pages  199-206,  the  line 
upside  down  (p.  175),  the  twleve  irregularly  printed  lines  (p. 
331),  inserted  to  indicate  his  efforts  in  writing  with  a  burned 
hand,  the  lines  of  dashes  and  exclamation  points,  the  mathe- 
matical, financial  calculation  of  the  worth  of  his  book  from  va- 
rious points  of  view,  and  the  description  of  the  maiden's  walk 
(p.  291).  Sterne's  mock-scientific  method,  as  already  noted, 
is  observable  again  in  the  statement  of  the  position  of  the 
dagger  "at  an  angle  of  30°"  (p.  248).  His  coining  of  new 
words,  for  which  he  is  censured  by  the  Allgemeine  deutsche 
Bihliothek,  is  also  a  legacy  of  Yorick's  method. 

The  third  volume  bears  little  relation  to  Sterne  aside  from 
its  title,  and  one  can  only  wonder,  in  view  of  the  criticism  of  the 
two  parts  already  published  and  the  nature  of  the  author's  own 


124 

partial  revulsion  of  feeling,  that  he  did  not  give  up  publishing 
it  altogether,  or  choose  another  title,  and  sunder  the  work  en- 
tirely from  the  foregoing  volumes,  with  which  it  has  in  fact  so 
contradictory  a  connection.  It  may  be  that  his  relations  to 
the  publisher  demanded  the  issuing  of  the  third  part  under  the 
same  title. 

This  volume  is  easily  divisible  into  several  distinct  parts, 
which  are  linked  with  one  another,  and  to  the  preceding  nar- 
rative, only  by  a  conventional  thread  of  inroduction.  These 
comprise :  the  story  of  Caroline  and  Rosenfeld,  a  typical  eight- 
eenth century  tale  of  love,  seduction  and  flight ;  the  hosts'  bal- 
lad, "Es  war  einmahl  ein  Edelmann;"  the  play,  "Die  unschul- 
dige  Ehebrecherin"  and  "Mein  Tagebuch,"  the  journal  of  an 
honest  preacher,  and  a  further  sincere  exploitation  of  Schum- 
mel's  ideas  upon  the  clergyman's  office,  his  ideal  of  simplicity, 
kindliness,  and  humanity.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  book 
Schummel  resumes  his  original  narrative,  and  indulges  once 
more  in  the  luxury  of  sentimental  adventure,  but  without  the 
former  abortive  attempts  at  imitating  Sterne's  peculiarities  of 
diction.  This  last  resumption  of  the  sentimental  creed  intro- 
duces to  us  one  event  evidently  inspired  by  Yorick:  he  meets 
a  poor,  maimed  soldier-beggar.  Since  misfortune  has  deprived 
the  narrator  himself  of  his  possessions,  he  can  give  nothing  and 
goes  a  begging  for  the  beggar's  sake,  introducing  the  new  and 
highly  sentimental  idea  of  "vicarious  begging"  (pp.  268-9).  I^"* 
the  following  episode,  a  visit  to  a  child-murderess,  Schummel 
leaves  a  page  entirely  blank  as  an  appropriate  proof  of  inca- 
apcity  to  express  his  emotions  attendant  on  the  execution  of 
the  unfortunate.  Sterne  also  left  a  page  blank  for  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  Widow  Wadman's  charms. 

At  the  very  end  of  the  book  Schummel  drops  his  narra- 
tive altogether  and  discourses  upon  his  own  work.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  in  any  literature  so  complete  a 
condemnation  of  one's  own  serious  and  extensive  endeavor, 
so  candid  a  criticism  of  one's  own  work,  so  frank  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  pettiness  of  one's  achievement.  He 
says  his  work,  as  an  imitation  of  Sterne's  two  novels,  has 
"few  or  absolutely  no  beauties  of  the  original,  and  many  faults 


125 

of  its  own."  He  states  that  his  enthusiasm  for  Tristram  has 
been  somewhat  dampened  by  Sonnenfels  and  Riedel ;  he  sees 
now  faults  which  should  not  have  been  imitated ;  the  frivolous 
attitude  of  the  narrator  toward  his  father  and  mother  is  depre- 
cated, and  the  suggestion  is  given  that  this  feature  was  de- 
rived from  Tristram's  own  frankness  concerning  the  eccen- 
tricities and  incapacities  of  his  parents.  He  begs  reference  to 
a  passage  in  the  second  volume^  where  the  author  alludes  with 
warmth  of  appreciation  to  his  real  father  and  mother ;  that  is, 
genuine  regard  overcame  the  temporary  blindness,  real  affec- 
tion arose  and  thrust  out  the  transitory  inclination  to  an  alien 
whimsicality. 

Schummel  admits  that  he  has  utterly  failed  in  his  effort 
to  characterize  the  German  people  in  the  way  Sterne  treated 
the  English  and  French;  he  confesses  that  the  ninety-page 
autobiography  which  precedes  the  journey  itself  was  in- 
tended to  be  Tristram-like,  but  openly  stigmatizes  his  own 
failure  as  "ill  conceived,  incoherent  and  not  very  well  told!" 
After  mentioning  some  few  incidents  and  passages  in  this  first 
section  which  he  regards  as  passable,  he  boldly  condemns  the 
rest  as  "almost  beneath  all  criticism,"  and  the  same  words  are 
used  with  reference  to  much  that  follows,  in  which  he  con- 
fesses to  imitation,  bad  taste  and  intolerable  indelicacy.  He  calls 
his  pathetic  attempts  at  whimsical  mannerisms  (Heideldum, 
etc.),  "klaglich,  iiberaus  klaglich,"  expresses  the  opinion  that 
one  would  not  be  surprised  at  the  reader  who  would  throw 
away  the  whole  book  at  such  a  passage.  The  words  of  the 
preacher  in  the  two  sections  where  he  is  allowed  to  air  his  opin- 
ions still  meet  with  his  approval,  and  the  same  is  true  of  one  or 
two  other  sections.  In  conclusion,  he  states  that  the  first  part 
contains  hardly  one  hundred  good  pages,  and  that  the  second 
part  is  worse  than  the  first,  so  that  he  is  unwilling  to  look  at 
it  again  and  seek  out  its  faults.  The  absence  of  allusions  to 
Sterne's  writings  is  marked,  except  in  the  critical  section  at 
the  end,  he  mentions  Sterne  but  once  (p.  239),  where  he  calls 
him  "schnurrigt."  This  alteration  of  feeling  must  have  taken 
place  in  a  brief  space  of  time,  for  the  third  volume  is  signed 

^  II,  p.  117. 


126 

April  25,  1772.  It  is  not  easy  to  establish  with  probabiHty  the 
works  of  Sonnenfels  and  Riedel  which  are  credited  with  a 
share  in  this  revulsion  of  feeling. 

In  all  of  this  Schummel  is  a  discriminating  critic  of  his  own 
work;  he  is  also  discerning  in  his  assertion  that  the  narrative 
contained  in  his  volume  is  conceived  more  in  the  vein  of  Field- 
ing and  Richardson.  The  Sterne  elements  are  rather  em- 
broidered on  to  the  other  fabric,  or,  as  he  himself  says,  using 
another  figure,  "only  fried  in  Shandy  fat."^ 

Goethe's  criticism  of  the  second  volume,  already  alluded  to, 
is  found  in  the  Frankfurter  Gelehrte  Anseigen  in  the  issue  of 
March  3,  1772.  The  nature  of  the  review  is  familiar:  Goethe 
calls  the  book  a  thistle  which  he  has  found  on  Yorick's  grave. 
"Alles,"  he  says,  "hat  es  dem  guten  Yorick  geraubt,  Speer, 
Helm  und  Lanze,  nur  Schade!  inwendig  steckt  der  Herr 
Praceptor  S.  zu  Magdeburg  .  .  .  Yorick  empfand,  und  dieser 
setzt  sich  hin  zu  empfinden.  Yorick  wird  von  seiner  Laune 
ergrififen,  und  weinte  und  lachte  in  einer  Minute  und  durch 
die  Magie  der  Sympathie  lachen  und  weinen  wir  mit:  hier 
aber  steht  einer  und  iiberlegt:  wie  lache  und  weine  ich?  was 
werden  die  Leute  sagen,  wenn  ich  lache  und  weine?"  etc. 
Schummel  is  stigmatized  as  a  childish  imitator  and  his  book 
is  censured  as  "beneath  criticism,"  oddly  enough  the  very  judg- 
ment its  own  author  accords  but  a  few  weeks  later  on  the  com- 
pletion of  the  third  volume.  The  review  contains  several  cita- 
tions illustrative  of  Schummel's  style. 

The  first  two  parts  were  reviewed  in  the  Allgemeine  dcntsche 
Bibliothekr  The  length  of  the  review  is  testimony  to  the  in- 
terest in  the  book,  and  the  tone  of  the  article,  though  frankly 
unfavorable,  is  not  so  emphatically  censorious  as  the  one  first 
noted.  It  is  observed  that  Schummel  has  attempted  the  impos- 
sible,— the  adoption  of  another's  "Laune,"  and  hence  his  failure. 
The  reviewer  notes,  often  with  generous  quotations,  the  more 
noticeable,  direct  imitations  from  Sterne,  the  conversation  of 
the  emotions,  the  nettle-plucking  at  the  grave,  the  eccentric 
orthography  and  the  new-coined  words.     Several  passages  of 

^  In  "Das  Kapitel  von  meiner  Lebensart,"  II,  pp.  113  ff- 
2  XVI,  2,  pp.  682-689. 


^      or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or 
197  "*i»^'^''  "^-^"H^^ 

comment  or  comparison  testify  to  the  then  current  admiration 
of  Yorick,  and  the  conventional  German  interpretation  of  his 
character;  "sein  gutes,  empfindungsvoUes  Herz,  mit  Tugend 
und  sittlichem  Gefiihl  erfiillt."     The  review  is  signed  "Sr:"' 

A  critic  in  the  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gelehrten  Sachen  for 
January  17,  1772,  treating  the  first  two  volumes,  expresses  the 
opinion  that  Jacobi,  the  author  of  the  "Tagereise,"  and  Schum- 
mel  have  little  but  the  title  from  Yorick.  The  author's  seeking 
for  opportunity  to  dissolve  in"  emotion  is  contrasted  unfavor- 
ably with  Yorick's  method,  the  affected  style  is  condemned,  yet 
it  is  admitted  that  the  work  promises  better  things  from  its 
talented  author;  his  power  of  observation  and  his  good  heart 
are  not  to  be  unacknowledged.  The  severity  of  the  review  is 
directed  against  the  imitators  already  arising. 

The  Magasin  der  deutschen  Critik^  reviews  the  third  volume 
with  favorable  comment;  the  comedy  which  Schummel  saw  fit 
to  insert  is  received  with  rather  extraordinary  praise,  and  the 
author  is  urged  to  continue  work  in  the  drama ;  a  desire  is  ex- 
pressed even  for  a  fourth  part.  The  Hamburgische  Neue 
Zeitimg,  June  4  and  October  29,  1771,  places  Schummel  un- 
hesitatingly beside  the  English  master,  calls  him  as  original  as 
his  pattern,  to  Sterne  belongs  the  honor  only  of  the  invention. 
The  author  is  hailed  as  a  genius  whose  talents  should  be  sup- 
ported, so  that  Germany  would  not  have  to  envy  England  her 
Yorick.^ 

After  Schummel's  remarkable  self-chastisement,  one  could 
hardly  expect  to  find  in  his  subsequent  works  evidence  of 
Sterne's  influence,  save  as  unconsciously  a  dimmed  admira- 
tion might  exert  a  certain  force.  Probably  contemporaneous 
with  the  composition  of  the  third  volume  of  the  work,  but  pos- 
sibly earlier,  Schummel  wrote  the  fourth  part  of  a  ponderous 
novel  by  a  fellow  Silesian,  Christian  Opitz,  entitled  "Die 
Gleichheit  der  menschlichen  Herzen,  bey  der  Ungleichheit 
ihrer  ausserlichen  Umstande  in  der  Geschichte  Herrn  Red- 

^  The  third  part  is  reviewed   (Hr)   in  XIX,  2,  pp.   576-7,  but  without  significant 

contribution  to  the  question. 

'  I,  2,  pp.  66-74,  the  second  number  of  1772.     Review  is  signed  "S." 

'Another  review  of  Schummel's  book  is  found  in  the  Almanack   der  deutschen 

Musen,  1773,  p.   106. 


128 

lichs  und  seiner  Bedienten."  Goedeke  implies  that  Opitz  was 
the  author  of  all  but  the  last  part,  but  the  reviewer  in  the 
Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek^  maintains  that  each  part  has 
a  different  author,  and  quotes  the  preface  to  the  fourth  as  sub- 
stantiation. According  to  this  review  both  the  second  and 
fourth  parts  are  characterized  by  a  humorous  fashion  in  writ- 
ing, and  the  last  is  praised  as  being  the  best  of  the  four.  It 
seems  probable  that  Schummel's  enthusiasm  for  Sterne 
played  its  part  in  the  composition  of  this  work. 

Possibly  encouraged  by  the  critic's  approbation,  Schummel 
devoted  his  literary  effort  for  the  following  years  largely  to 
the  drama.  In  1774  he  published  his  "Uebersetzer-Bibliothek 
zum  Gebrauche  der  Uebersetzer,  Schulmanner  und  Liebhaber 
der  alten  Litteratur."  The  reviewer-  in  the  Allgemeine 
deutsche  Bibliothck  finds  passages  in  this  book  in  which  the 
author  of  the  "Empfindsame  Reisen"  is  visible, — where  his 
fancy  runs  away  with  his  reason, — and  a  passage  is  quoted  in 
which  reference  is  made  to  Slawkenberg's  book  on  noses.  It 
would  seem  that  the  seeking  for  wit  survived  the  crude  senti- 
mentality. 

Two  years  later  Schummel  published  "Fritzen's  Reise  nach 
Dessau,"^  a  work  composed  of  letters  from  a  twelve-year 
old  boy,  written  on  a  journey  from  Magdeburg  to  Dessau. 
The  letters  are  quite  without  whim  or  sentiment,  and  the 
book  has  been  remembered  for  the  extended  description 
of  Basedow's  experimental  school,  "Philantropin"  (opened 
in  1774).  Its  account  has  been  the  source  of  the  informa- 
tion given  of  this  endeavor  in  some  pedagogical  treatises* 
and  it  was  re-issued,  as  a  document  in  the  history  of 
pedagogical  experiment,  in  Leipzig,  by  Albert  Richter 
in    1 89 1,     About   fifteen   years    later   still   the   "Reise    durch 

^  XI,  2,  p.  344;  XV,  I,  p.  249;  XVII,  I,  p.  244.  Also  entitled  "Begebenheiten 
des  Herrn  Redlich,"  the  novel  was  published  Wittenberg,  1756-71;  Frankfurt  and 
Leipzig,  1768-71. 

^  XXVIII,  I,  pp.  ipg  ff.  Reviewed  also  in  Auserlesene  Bibliothek  der  neusten 
deutschen  Litteratur,  Lemgo,  VII,  p.  234  (1775)  and  Ncue  litterarische  Utiter- 
haltungeu,  Breslau,  I,  pp.  660-691. 

^Leipzig,  Crusius,  1776,  pp.  120.  Baker,  influenced  by  title  and  authorship,  in- 
cludes it  among  the  literary  progeny  of  Yorick.     It  has  no  connection  with  Sterne. 

*  See  Jahresberichte  fiir  neuere  deutsche  Litteratur-geschichtc,  II,  p.   106   (1893). 


129 

Schlesien"^  was  issued.  It  is  a  simple  narrative  of  a  real 
journey  with  description  of  places  and  people,  frankly  per- 
sonal, almost  epistolary  in  form,  without  a  suggestion  of  Sterne- 
like whim  or  sentiment.  One  passage  is  significant  as  indi- 
cating the  author's  realization  of  his  change  of  attitude.  The 
sight  of  a  group  of  prisoners  bound  by  a  chain  calls  to  his 
memory  his  former  sentimental  extravagance,  and  he  ex- 
claims :  "Twenty  years  ago,  when  I  was  still  a  sentimental 
traveler,  I  would  have  wasted  many  an  'Oh'  and  'alas'  over 
this  scene ;  at  present,  since  I  have  learned  to  know  the  world 
and  mankind  somewhat  more  intimately,  I  think  otherwise." 

Johann  Christian  Bock  (1724-1785),  who  was  in  1772 
theater-poet  of  the  Ackerman  Company  in  Hamburg,  soon 
after  the  publication  of  the  Sentimental  Journey,  identified 
himself  with  the  would-be  Yoricks  by  the  production  of  "Die 
Tagereise,"  which  was  published  at  Leipzig  in  1770.  The 
work  was  re-issued  in  1775  with  the  new  title  "Die  Geschichte 
eines  empfundenen  Tages."^  The  only  change  in  the 
new  edition  was  the  addition  of  a  number  of  copper- 
plate engravings.  The  book  is  inspired  in  part  by  Sterne 
directly,  and  in  part  indirectly  through  the  intermediary 
Jacobi.  Unlike  the  work  of  Schummel  just  treated,  it 
betrays  no  Shandean  influence,  but  is  dependent  solely  on 
the  Sentimental  Journey.  In  outward  form  the  book  resem- 
bles Jacobi's  "Winterreise,"  since  verse  is  introduced  to  vary 
the  prose  narrative.  The  attitude  of  the  author  toward  his 
journey,  undertaken  with  conscious  purpose,  is  characteristic 
of  the  whole  set  of  emotional  sentiment-seekers,  who  found  in 
their  Yorick  a  challenge  to  go  and  do  likewise :  "Everybody 
is  journeying,  I  thought,  and  took  Yorick  and  Jacobi  with  me. 
...  I  will  really  see  whether  I  too  may  not  chance  upon  a 
fille  de  chambre  or  a  harvest-maid,"  is  a  very  significant 
statement  of  his  inspiration  and  intention.  Once  started  on 
his  journey,  the  author  falls  in  with  a  poor  warrior-beggar,  an 
adaptation  of  Sterne's  Chevalier  de  St.  Louis,^  and  he  puts  in 

^  Breslau,   1792.     It  is  included  in  Baker's  list. 

2  Frankfurt  and  Leipzig,  pp.  208.  Baker  regards  these  two  editions  as  two  dif- 
ferent works. 

'  Sentimental  Journey,  pp.  87-88. 

9 


130 

verse  Yorick's  expressed  sentiment  that  the  king  and  the 
fatherland  should  not  allow  the  faithful  soldier  to  fall  into  such 
distress. 

Bock's  next  sentimental  adventure  is  with  a  fair  peasant- 
maid  whom  he  sees  weeping  by  the  wayside.  Through 
Yorick-like  insistence  of  sympathy,  he  finally  wins  from  her 
information  concerning  the  tender  situation :  a  stern  step- 
father, an  unwelcome  suitor  of  his  choosing,  and  a  lover  of 
her  own.  Her  inability  to  write  and  thus  communicate  with 
the  latter  is  the  immediate  cause  of  the  present  overflow.  The 
traveler  beholds  in  this  predicament  a  remarkable  sentimental 
opportunity  and  offers  his  services ;  he  strokes  her  cheek,  her 
tears  are  dried,  and  they  part  like  brother  and  sister.  The 
episode  is  unquestionably  inspired  by  the  episode  of  Maria  of 
Moulines ;  in  the  latter  development  of  the  affair,  the  senti- 
ment, which  is  expressed,  that  the  girl's  innocence  is  her  own 
defense  is  borrowed  directly  from  Yorick's  statement  concern- 
ing the  fille  de  chamhre.^  The  traveler's  questioning  of  his 
own  motives  in  "Die  Ueberlegung"^  is  distinctly  Sterne-like, 
and  it  demonstrates  also  Bock's  appreciation  of  this  quizzical 
element  in  Yorick's  attitude  toward  his  own  sentimental  be- 
havior. The  relation  of  man  to  the  domestic  animals  is  treated 
sentimentally  in  the  episode  of  the  old  beggar  and  his  dead 
dog:^  the  tears  of  the  beggar,  his  affection  for  the  beast,  their 
genuine  comradeship,  and  the  dog's  devotion  after  the  world 
had  forsaken  his  master,  are  all  part  and  parcel  of  that  fan- 
tastic humane  movement  which  has  its  source  in  Yorick's 
dead  ass.  Bock  practically  confesses  his  inspiration  by  direct 
allusion  to  the  episode  in  Yorick.  Bock  defends  with  warmth 
the  old  peasant  and  his  grief. 

The  wanderer's  acquaintance  with  the  lady's  companion'*  is 
adapted  from  Yorick's  HUe  de  chambre  connection,  and  Bock 
cannot  avoid  a  fleshly  suggestion,  distinctly  in  the  style  of 
Yorick  in  the  section,  the  "Spider."^     The  return  journey  in 

^  Sentimental  Journey,  p.  73. 

"  Pp-    45-50. 

'  Pp.    106-1 19. 

*  Die  Gesellschafterin,  pp.    131-144. 

»  Pp.   I45-I55- 


131 

the  sentimental  moonlight  affords  the  author  another  oppor- 
tunity for  the  exercise  of  his  broad  human  sympathy :  he  meets 
a  poor  woman,  a  day-laborer  with  her  child,  gives  them  a  few 
coins  and  doubts  whether  king  or  bishop  could  be  more  con- 
tent with  the  benediction  of  the  apostolic  chair  than  he  with 
the  blessing  of  this  unfortunate, — a  sentiment  derived  from 
Yorick's  overcolored  veneration  for  the  horn  snuff-box. 

The  churchyard  scene  with  which  the  journey  ends  is  more 
openly  fanciful,  down-right  visionary  in  tone,  but  the  manner 
is  very  emphatically  not  that  of  Sterne,  though  in  the  midst 
the  Sterne  motif  of  nettle-plucking  is  introduced.  This  senti- 
mental episode  took  hold  of  German  imagination  with  peculiar 
force.  The  hobby-horse  idea  also  was  sure  of  its  appeal,  and 
Bock  did  not  fail  to  fall  under  its  spell.^ 

But  apart  from  the  general  impulse  and  borrowing  of  motif 
from  the  foreign  novel,  there  is  in  this  little  volume  consider- 
able that  is  genuine  and  original :  the  author's  German  patriot- 
ism, his  praise  of  the  old  days  in  the  Fatherland  in  the  chapter 
entitled  "Die  Gaststube,"  his  "Trinklied  eines  Deutschen,"  his 
disquisition  on  the  position  of  the  poet  in  the  world    ("ein 
eignes  Kapitel"),  and  his  adulation  of  Gellert  at  the  latter's 
grave.     The  reviewer  in  the  Deutsche  Bibliothek  der  schonen 
Wissenschaften''  chides  the  unnamed,  youthful  author  for  not 
allowing  his  undeniable  talents  to  ripen  to  maturity,  for  being 
led  on  by  Jacobi's  success  to  hasten  his  exercises  into  print. 
In  reality  Bock  was  no  longer  youthful  (forty-six)  when  the 
"Tagereise"    was    published.     The   Almanach    der   deutschen 
Musen  for  1771,  calls  the  book  "an  unsuccessful  imitation  of 
Yorick  and  Jacobi,"  and  wishes  that  this  "Rhapsodic  von  Cru- 
ditaten"  might  be  the  last  one  thrust  on  the  market  as  a  "Sen- 
timental Journey."     The  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek^  com- 
ments also  on  the  double  inspiration,  and  the  insufficiency  and 
tiresomeness   of  the   performance.     And   yet   Boie*   says   the 
papers  praised  the  little  book;  for  himself,  however,  he  ob- 

1  Die  Dame,  pp.  120-130. 

2V,  St.  2,  p.  371- 

SAnhang  to  XIII-XXIV,  Vol.   11,  p.    1151- 

*  Letter  to  Raspe,  Gottitigen,  June  2,  1770,  in  Weimarisches  Jahrbuch,  III,  p.  28 


132 

serves,  he  little  desires  to  read  it,  and  adds  "What  will  our 
Yoricks  yet  come  to?  At  last  they  will  get  pretty  insignifi- 
cant, I  think,  if  they  keep  on  this  way." 

Bock  was  also  the  author  of  a  series  of  little  volumes  writ- 
ten in  the  early  seventies,  still  under  the  sentimental  charm: 
(i)  Empfindsame  Reise  durch  die  Visitenzimmer  am  Neu- 
jahrstag  von  einem  deutschen  Yorick  angestellt,  Cosmopolis 
(Hamburg)  1771 — really  published  at  the  end  of  the  previous 
year;  (2)  .  .  .  am  Ostertage,  1772;  (3)  Am  Pfingsttage,  1772; 
(4)  Am  Johannistage,  1773;  (5)  Am  Weynachtstage,  1773. 
These  books  were  issued  anonymously,  and  Schroder's  Lexicon 
gives  only  (2)  and  (3)  under  Bock's  name,  but  there  seems  no 
good  reason  to  doubt  his  authorship  of  them  all.  Indeed,  his 
claim  to  (i)  is,  according  to  the  Frankfurter  Gelehrte  An- 
zeigen,  well-nigh  proven  by  an  allusion  to  the  "Tagereise"  in 
the  introduction,  and  by  the  initials  signed.  None  of  them  are 
given  by  Goedeke.  The  books  are  evidently  only  in  a  general 
way  dependent  on  the  Sterne  model,  and  are  composed  of  ob- 
servations upon  all  sorts  of  subjects,  the  first  section  of  each 
volume  bearing  some  relation  to  the  festival  in  which  they  ap- 
pear. 

In  the  second  edition  of  the  first  volume  the  author  con- 
fesses that  the  title  only  is  derived  from  Yorick,^  and  states 
that  he  was  forced  to  this  misuse  because  no  one  at  that  time 
cared  to  read  anything  but  "Empfindsame  Reisen."  It  is  also 
to  be  noted  that  the  description  beneath  the  title,  "von  einem 
deutschen  Yorick  angestellt,"  is  omitted  after  the  first  volume. 
The  review  of  (4)  and  (5)  in  the  Altonaer  Reichs-Post- 
reuter  finds  this  a  commendable  resumption  of  proper  hu- 
mility. The  observations  are  evidently  loosely  strung  together 
without  the  pretense  of  a  narrative,  such  as  "Allgemeines  Per- 
spectiv  durch  alle  Visitenzimmer,  Empfindsamer  Neujahrs- 
wunsch,  Empfindsame  Berechnung  eines  Weisen  mit  sich 
selbst,  Empfindsame  Entschliisse,  Empfindsame  Art  sein  Geld 
gut  unterzubringen,"  etc.^  An  obvious  purpose  inspires  the 
writer,  the  furthering  of  morality  and  virtue ;  many  of  the 

^  Frankfurter  Gel.  Anz.,  April  2y,  1773,  pp.  276-S. 

^  Hamburgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent,   December  31,   1771. 


133 

meditations  are  distinctly  religious.  That  some  of  the  observa- 
tions had  a  local  significance  in  Hamburg,  together  with  the 
strong  sentimental  tendency  there,  may  account  for  the  warm 
reception  by  the  Hamhurgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspond- 
ent} 

Some  contemporary  critics  maintained  a  kinship  between 
Matthias  Claudius  and  Yorick-Sterne,  though  nothing  further 
than  a  similarity  of  mental  and  emotional  fibre  is  suggested. 
No  one  claimed  an  influence  working  from  the  English  master. 
Even  as  late  as  1872,  Wilhelm  Roseler  in  his  introductory 
poem  to  a  study  of  "Matthias  Claudius  und  sein  Humor"^  calls 
Asmus,  "Deutschland's  Yorick,"  thereby  agreeing  almost  ver- 
bally with  the  German  correspondent  of  the  Deutsches  Museum, 
who  wrote  from  London  nearly  a  hundred  years  before,  Sep- 
tember 14,  1778,  "Asmus  ...  is  the  German  Sterne,"  an  as- 
sertion which  was  denied  by  a  later  correspondent,  who  asserts 
that  Claudius's  manner  is  very  different  from  that  of  Sterne.^ 

August  von  Kotzebue,  as  youthful  narrator,  betrays  a  de- 
pendence on  Sterne  in  his  strange  and  ingeniously  contrived 
tale,  "Die  Geschichte  meines  Vaters,  oder  wie  es  zuging,  dass 
ich  gebohren  wurde."*  The  influence  of  Sterne  is  noticeable 
in  the  beginning  of  the  story :  he  commences  with  a  circum- 
stantial account  of  his  grandfather  and  grandmother,  and 
the  circumstances  of  his  father's  birth.  The  grandfather 
is  an  original  undoubtedly  modeled  on  lines  suggested  by 
Sterne's  hobby-horse  idea.  He  had  been  chosen  in  days  gone  by 
to  greet  the  reigning  prince  on  the  latter's  return  from  a  jour- 
ney, and  the  old  man  harks  back  to  this  circumstance  with 
"hobby-horsical"  persistence,  whatever  the  subject  of  conver- 

^  Other  reviews  are  (2)  and  (3),  Frankfurter  gel.  Am.,  November  27,  1772; 
(2)  and  (3),  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XIX,  2,  p.  579  (Musaus)  and  XXIV,  1,  p.  287; 
of  the  series,  Neue  Critische  Nachrichten  (Greifswald),  IX,  p.  152.  There  is  a 
rather  full  nalysis  of  (i)  in  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ana.,  1773,  pp.  276-8,  April  27.  Ac- 
cording to  Wittenberg  in  the  Altonaer  Reichs-Postretiter  (June  21,  1773),  Holfrath 
Deinet  was  the  author  of  this  review.  A  sentimental  episode  from  these  "Journeys" 
was  made  the  subject  of  a  play  called  "Der  Greis"  and  produced  at  Munich  in 
1774-      (See  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XXXII,  2,  p.   466). 

^  Berlin,   1873. 

'Deutsches  Museum,  VI,  p.  384,  and  VII,  p.  220. 

*  Reval  und  Leipzig,  1788,  2d  edition,  1792,  and  published  in  "Kleine  gesammelte 
Schriften,"  Reval  und  Leipzig,  1789,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  131-292.  Reviewed  in  Allg.  Litt.- 
Zeitung,   1789,  II,  p.  736. 


134 

sation,  even  as  all  matters  led  Uncle  Toby  to  military  fortifi- 
cation, and  the  elder  Shandy  to  one  of  his  pet  theories. 

In  Schrimps  the  servant,  another  Shandean  original  is  de- 
signed. When  the  news  comes  of  the  birth  of  a  son  on  Mount 
Vesuvius,  master  and  man  discuss  mutifarious  and  irrelevant 
topics  in  a  fashion  reminiscent  of  the  conversation  downstairs 
in  the  Shandy  mansion  while  similar  events  are  going  on 
above.  Later  in  the  book  we  have  long  lists,  or  catalogues  of 
things  which  resemble  one  of  Sterne's  favorite  mannerisms. 
But  the  greater  part  of  the  wild,  adventurous  tale  is  far  re- 
moved from  its  inception,  which  presented  domestic  whimsi- 
cality in  a  gallery  of  originals,  unmistakably  connected  with 
Tristram  Shandy. 

Goschen's  "Reise  von  Johann"^  is  a  product  of  the  late  rena- 
scence of  sentimental  journeying.  Master  and  servant  are 
represented  in  this  book  as  traveling  through  southern  Ger- 
many, a  pair  as  closely  related  in  head  and  heart  as  Yorick 
and  La  Fleur,  or  Captain  Shandy  and  Corporal  Trim.  The 
style  is  of  rather  forced  buoyancy  and  sprightliness,  with  in- 
tentional inconsequence  and  confusion,  an  attempt  at  humor 
of  narration,  which  is  choked  by  characteristic  national  de- 
sire to  convey  information,  and  a  fatal  propensity  to  descrip- 
tion of  places,-  even  when  some  satirical  purpose  underlies  the 
account,  as  in  the  description  of  Erlangen  and  its  university. 
The  servant  Johann  has  mild  adventures  with  the  maids  in  the 
various  inns,  which  are  reminiscent  of  Yorick,  and  in  one  case  it 
borders  on  the  openly  suggestive  and  more  Shandean  method.^ 
A  distinctly  borrowed  motif  is  the  accidental  finding  of  papers 
which  contain  matters  of  interest.  This  is  twice  resorted  to ;  a 
former  occupant  of  the  room  in  the  inn  in  Niirnberg  had  left 
valuable  notes  of  travel ;  and  Johann,  meeting  a  ragged 
woman,  bent  on  self-destruction,  takes  from  her  a  box  with 
papers,  disclosing  a  revolting  story,  baldly  told.  German 
mediocrity,  imitating  Yorick  in  this  regard,  and  failing  of  his 
delicacy  and  subtlety,  brought   forth  hideous  offspring.     An 

^Leipzig,   1/93,  PP-  2^4,  8°,  by  Georg  Joachim  Goschen. 

*  See  the  account  of  Ulm,  and  of  Lindau  near  the  end  of  the  volume. 

^  See  pp.  21-22  and  105. 


135 

attempt  at  whimsicality  of  style  is  apparent  in  the  "Fiirth 
Catechismus  in  Frage  und  Antwort"  (pp.  71-74),  and  gen- 
uinely sentimental  adventures  are  supplied  by  the  death-bed 
scene  (pp.  70-71)  and  the  village  funeral  (pp.  74-77)- 

This  book  is  classed  by  Ebeling^  without  sufficient  reason  as 
an  imitation  of  von  Thiimmel.  This  statement  is  probably  de- 
rived from  the  letter  from  Schiller  to  Goethe  to  which  Ebeling 
refers  in  the  following  lines.  Schiller  is  writing  to  Goethe  con- 
cerning plans  for  the  Xenien,  December  29,  1795.^  The 
abundance  of  material  for  the  Xenien  project  is  commented 
upon  with  enthusiastic  anticipation,  and  in  a  list  of  vulnerable 
possibilities  we  read:  "Thummel,  Goschen  als  sein  Stall- 
meister— "  a  collocation  of  names  easily  attributable,  in  consid- 
eration of  the  underlying  satiric  purpose,  to  the  general  nature 
of  their  work,  without  in  any  way  implying  the  dependence  of 
one  author  on  another,^  or  it  could  be  interpreted  as  an  al- 
lusion to  the  fact  that  Goschen  was  von  Thiimmel's  publisher. 
Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  correspondence  to  justify  Ebe- 
ling's  harshness  in  saying  concerning  this  volume  of  Goschen, 
that  it  "enjoyed  the  honor  of  being  ridiculed  (verhohnt)  in 
the  Xenien-correspondence  between  Goethe  and  Schiller." 
Goethe  replies  (December  30),  in  approval,  and  exlaims,  "How 
fine  Charis  and  Johann  will  appear  beside  one  another."* 
The  suggestion  concerning  a  possible  use  of  Goschen's  book  in 
the  Xenien  was  never  carried  out. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Goschen  submitted  the  manu- 
script of  his  book  to  Schiller,  and  that  Schiller  returned  the 
same  with  the  statement  "that  he  had  laughed  heartily  at  some 
of  the  whims.^  Garve,  in  a  letter  dated  March  8,  1875,  speaks  of 
Goschen's  book  in  terms  of  moderate  praise.^ 

^  "Geschichte  der  komischen  Literatur,"  III,  p.  625. 

2  See  "Briefwechsel  zwischen  Goethe  und  Schiller,"  edited  by  Boxberger.  Stutt- 
gart, Spemann,  Vol.  I,  p.  118. 

5  It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  von  Thiimmel's  first  servant  bears  the  name  Johann. 

*  "Charis  oder  iiber  das  Schone  und  die  Schonheit  in  den  bildenden  Kiinsten" 
by  Ramdohr,  Leipzig,  1793. 

ii  "Schiller's  Briefe,"  edited  by  Fritz  Jonas,  III,  pp.  316,  319-  Letters  of  June  6 
and  June  23  (?),  1793-  , 

»  "Briefe  von  Christian  Garve  an  Chr.  Felix  Weisse,  und  einige  andern  Freunde, 
Breslau,    1803,    p.    189-190.     The    book    was    reviewed    favorably   by    the    AUg.    Litt. 
Zeitung,  1794,  IV,  p.  513. 


136 

The  "Empfindsame  Reise  von  Oldenburg  nach  Bremen,"^  the 
author  of  which  was  a  Hanoverian  army  officer,  H.  J.  C, 
Hedemann,  is  characterized  by  Ebehng  as  emphatically  not 
inspired  by  Sterne.^  Although  it  is  not  a  sentimental  journey, 
as  Schummel  and  Jacobi  and  Bock  conceived  it,  and  is  thus  not 
an  example  of  the  earliest  period  of  imitation,  and  although  it 
contains  no  passages  of  teary  sentimentality  in  attitude  toward 
man  and  beast,  one  must  hesitate  in  denying  all  connection 
with  Sterne's  manner.  It  would  seem  as  if,  having  outgrown 
the  earlier  Yorick,  awakened  from  dubious,  fine-spun  dreams 
of  human  brotherhood,  perhaps  by  the  rude  clatter  of  the 
French  revolution,  certain  would-be  men  of  letters  turned  to 
Yorick  again  and  saw,  as  through  a  glass  darkly,  that  other 
element  of  his  nature,  and  tried  in  lumbering,  Teutonic  way  to 
adopt  his  whimsicality,  shorn  now  of  sentimentalism,  and  to 
build  success  for  their  wares  on  remembrance  of  a  defaced 
idol.  This  view  of  later  sentimental  journeying  is  practically 
acknowledged  at  any  rate  in  a  contemporary  review,  the  All- 
gemeine  Litteratiir-Zeitimg  for  August  22,  1796,  which  re- 
marks :  "A  sentimental  voyage  ist  ein  Quodlibet,  wo  einige 
bekannte  Sachen  und  Namen  gezwungenen  Wiz  und  matten 
Scherz  heben  sollen."^ 

Hedemann's  book  is  conspicuous  in  its  effort  to  be  whimsical 
and  is  openly  satirical  in  regard  to  the  sentimentalism  of  for- 
mer travelers.  His  endeavor  is  markedly  in  Sterne's  manner 
in  his  attitude  toward  the  writing  of  the  book,  his  conversa- 
tion about  the  difficulty  of  managing  the  material,  his  discus- 
sion with  himself  and  the  reader  about  the  various  parts  of  the 
book.  Quite  in  Sterne's  fashion,  and  to  be  associated  with 
Sterne's  frequent  promises  of  chapters,  and  statements  con- 
cerning embarrassment  of  material,  is  conceived  his  determina- 
tion "to  mention  some  things  beforehand  about  which  I  don't 
know  anything  to  say,"  and  his  rather  humorous  enumeration 

^  Falkenburg,   1796,  pp.   no.     Goedeke  gives  Bremen  as  place  of  publication. 

^  Ebeling,  III,  p.  625,  gives  Hademann  as  autlier,  and  Fallenburg — both  prob- 
ably misprints. 

^  The  review  is  of  "Auch  Vetter  Heinrich  hat  Launen,  von  G.  L.  B.,  Frankfurt- 
am-Main,  1796" — a  book  evidently  called  into  being  by  a  translation  of  selections 
from  "Les  Lunes  du  Cousin  Jacques."  Jiinger  was  the  translator.  The  original 
is  the  work  of  Beffroy  de  Regny. 


137 

of  them.  The  author  satirizes  the  real  sentimental  traveler  of 
Sterne's  earlier  imitators  in  the  following  passage  (second 
chapter) : 

"It  really  must  be  a  great  misfortune,  an  exceedingly  vex- 
atious case,  if  no  sentimental  scenes  occur  to  a  sentimental 
traveler,  but  this  is  surely  not  the  case;  only  the  subjects, 
w^hich  offer  themselves  must  be  managed  with  strict  economy. 
If  one  leaps  over  the  most  interesting  events  entirely,  one  is  in 
danger,  indeed,  of  losing  everything,  at  least  of  not  filling  many 
pages." 

Likewise  in  the  following  account  of  a  sentimental  ad- 
venture, the  satirical  purpose  is  evident.  He  has  not  gone  far 
on  his  journey  when  he  is  met  by  a  troop  of  children;  with  un- 
sentimental coldness  he  determines  that  there  is  a  "Schlag- 
baum"  in  the  way.  After  the  children  have  opened  the  bar- 
rier, he  debates  with  himself  to  which  child  to  give  his  little 
coin,  concludes,  as  a  "sentimental  traveler,"  to  give  it  to  the 
other  sex,  then  there  is  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  follow  his  in- 
stinct. He  reflects  long  with  himself  whether  he  was  right  in 
so  doing, — all  of  which  is  a  deliberate  jest  at  the  hesitation 
with  reference  to  trivial  acts,  the  self-examination  with  regard 
to  the  minutiae  of  past  conduct,  which  was  copied  by  Sterne's 
imitators  from  numerous  instances  in  the  works  of  Yorick. 
Satirical  also  is  his  vision  in  Chapter  VII,  in  which  he  beholds 
the  temple  of  stupidity  where  lofty  stupidity  sits  on  a  paper 
throne ;  and  of  particular  significance  here  is  the  explanation 
that  the  whole  company  who  do  "erhabene  Dummheit"  honor 
formerly  lived  in  cities  of  the  kingdom,  but  "now  they  are  on 
journeys."  Further  examples  of  a  humorous  manner  akin  to 
Sterne  are :  his  statement  that  it  would  be  a  "great  error"  to 
write  an  account  of  a  journey  without  weaving  in  an  anecdote 
of  a  prince,  his  claim  that  he  has  fulfilled  all  duties  of  such  a 
traveler  save  to  fall  in  love,  his  resolve  to  accomplish  it,  and 
his  formal  declaration :  "I,  the  undersigned,  do  vow  and  make 
promise  to  be  in  love  before  twenty-four  hours  are  past." 
The  story  with  which  his  volume  closes,  "Das  Standchen,"  is 
rather   entertaining   and   is   told    graphically,    easily,    without 


138 

whim  or  satire,  yet  not  without  a  Sternian  double  entendre.^ 

Another  work  in  which  sentimentaHsm  has  dwindled  away  to 
a  grinning  shade,  and  a  certain  irresponsible,  light-hearted  at- 
titude is  the  sole  remaining  connection  with  the  great  progen- 
itor, is  probably  the  "Empfindsame  Reise  nach  Schilda"  (Leip- 
zig, 1793),  by  Andreas  Geo.  Fr,  von  Rabenau,  which  is 
reviewed  in  the  Allgemeine  Litteratur-Zcitnng  (1794,  I,  p. 
416)  as  a  free  revision  of  an  old  popular  tale,  "Das  lustige 
und  lacherliche  Lalenburg."  The  book  is  evidently  with- 
out sentimental  tinge,  is  a  merry  combination  of  wit  and  joke 
combined  with  caricature  and  half-serious  tilting  against  un- 
important literary  celebrities.^ 

Certain  miscellaneous  works,  which  are  more  or  less  ob- 
viously connected  with  Sterne  may  be  grouped  together  here. 

To  the  first  outburst  of  Sterne  enthusiasm  belongs  an  anon- 
ymous product,  "Zween  Tage  eines  Schwindstichtigen,  etwas 
Empfindsames,"  von  L.  .  .  .  (Hamburg,  1772),  yet  the  editor 
admits  that  the  sentiment  is  "not  entirely  like  Yorick's,"  and  the 
Altonaer  Reichs-Postreuter  (July  2,  1772)  adds  that  "not  at  all 
like  Yorick's"  would  have  been  nearer  the  truth.  This  book 
is  mentioned  by  Hillebrand  with  implication  that  it  is  the  ex- 
treme example  of  the  absurd  sentimental  tendency,  probably 
judging  merely  from  the  title,^  for  the  book  is  doubtless  merely 
thoughtful,  contemplative,  with  a  minimum  of  overwrought 
feeling. 

According  to  the  Frankfurter  Gelchrte  Anzeigen  (1775,  pp. 
592-3),  another  product  of  the  earlier  seventies,  the  "Leben 
und  Schicksale  des  Martin  Dickius,"  by  Johann  Moritz 
Schwager,  is  in  many  places  a  clever  imitation  of  Sterne,* 
although  the  author  claims,  like  Wezel  in  "Tobias  Knaut,"  not 
to  have  read  Shandy  until  after  the  book  was  written.     Surely 

^  Hedemann's  book  is  reviewed  indifferently  in  the  Allg.  Litt.  Zeitung.  (Jena, 
1798,  I,  p.  173.) 

=  Von  Rabenau  wrote  also  "Hans  Kiekindiewelts  Reise"  (Leipzig,  1794).  which 
Ebeling  (III,  p.  623)  condemns  as  "the  most  commonplace  imitation  of  the  most 
ordinary  kind  of  the  comic." 

8  It  is  also  reviewed  by  Musaus  in  the  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XIX,  2,  p.  579. 

■*  The  same  opinion  is  expressed  in  the  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gelehrten  Sachen, 
1776,  p.  465.  See  also  Schwinger's  study  of  "Sebaldus  Nothanker,"  pp.  248-251; 
Ebeling,  p.  584;  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XXXII,  i,  p.  141. 


139 

the  digression  on  noses  which  the  author  allows  himself  is  sus- 
picious. 

Blankenburg,  the  author  of  the  treatise  on  the  novel  to  which 
reference  has  been  made,  was  regarded  by  contemporary  and 
subsequent  criticism  as  an  imitator  of  Sterne  in  his  oddly  titled 
novel  "Beytrage  zur  Geschichte  des  teutschen  Reiches  und 
teutscher  Sitten,"^  although  the  general  tenor  of  his  essay,  in 
reasonableness  and  balance,  seemed  to  promise  a  more  inde- 
pendent, a  more  competent  and  felicitous  performance.  Kurz 
expresses  this  opinion,  w^hich  may  have  been  derived  from 
criticisms  in  the  eighteenth  century  journals.  The  Frankfurter 
Gelehrte  Anseigen,  July  28,  1775,  does  not,  however,  take  this 
view ;  but  seems  to  be  in  the  novel  a  genuine  exemplification 
of  the  author's  theories  as  previously  expressed.-  The  Allge- 
meine  deutsche  Bibliothek^  calls  the  book  didactic,  a  tract 
against  certain  essentially  German  follies.  Merck,  in  the 
Teutscher  Merktir,^  says  the  imitation  of  Sterne  is  quite  too 
obvious,  though  Blankenburg  denies  it. 

Among  miscellaneous  and  anonymous  works  inspired  di- 
rectly by  Sterne,  belongs  undoubtedly  "Die  Geschichte  meiner 
Reise  nach  Pirmont"  (1773),  the  author  of  which  claims  that 
it  was  written  before  Yorick  was  translated  or  Jacobi  pub- 
lished. He  says  he  is  not  worthy  to  pack  Yorick's  bag  or 
weave  Jacobi's  arbor, ^  but  the  review  of  the  Almanach  der 
deutschen  Mnsen  evidently  regards  it  as  a  product,  neverthe- 
less, of  Yorick's  impulse.  Kuno  RidderhofT  in  his  study  of 
Frau  la  Roche*'  says  that  the  '"Empfindsamkeit"  of  Rosalie  in 
the  first  part  of  "Rosaliens  Briefe"  is  derived  from  Yorick. 
The  "Leben,  Thaten  und  Meynungen  des  D.  J.  Pet.  Menadie" 
(Halle,  1777-1781)  is  charged  by  the  Allgemeine  deutsche 
Bibliothck  with  attempt  at  Shandy-like  eccentricity  of  narra- 
tive and  love  of  digression.'' 

^Leipzig  and  Liegnitz,  1775. 

^  The  Leipsiger  Museum  Almanach,   1776,  pp.  69-70,  agrees  in  this  view. 

3  XXIX,  2,  p.  507. 

*  1776,  I,  p.  272. 

^  An  allusion  to  an  episode  of  the   "Somnierreise." 

*  "Sophie  von  la  Roche,"   Gottinger  Dissertation,   Einbeck,   1895. 

'' Allg.  deutsche  BibL,  XLVII,  i,  p.  435;  LII,  i,  p.  148,  and  Anhang,  XXIV- 
XXXVI,  Vol.  II,  p.  903-908. 


140 

One  little  volume,  unmistakably  produced  under  Yorick's 
spell,  is  worthy  of  particular  mention  because  at  its  time  it 
received  from  the  reviewers  a  more  cordial  welcome  than  was 
accorded  to  the  rank  and  file  of  Sentimental  Journeys.  It  is 
"M  ...  R  ..."  by  E.  A.  A.  von  Gochhausen  (1740-1824), 
which  was  published  at  Eisenach,  1772,  and  was  deemed 
worthy  of  several  later  editions.  Its  dependence  on  Sterne  is 
confessed  and  obvious,  sometimes  apologetically  and  hesitating- 
ly, sometimes  defiantly.  The  imitation  of  Sterne  is  strongest  at 
the  beginning,  both  in  outward  form  and  subject-matter,  and 
this  measure  of  indebtedness  dwindles  away  steadily  as  the 
book  advances.  Gochhausen,  as  other  imitators,  used  at  the 
outset  a  modish  form,  returned  to  it  consciously  now  and  then 
when  once  under  way,  but  when  he  actually  had  something  to 
say,  a  message  of  his  own,  found  it  impracticable  or  else  forgot 
to  follow  his  model. 

The  absurd  title  stands,  of  course,  for  "Meine  Reisen"  and 
the  puerile  abbreviation  as  well  as  the  reasons  assigned  for  it, 
were  intended  to  be  a  Sterne-like  jest,  a  pitiful  one.  Why 
Goedeke  should  suggest  "Meine  Randglossen"  is  quite  inex- 
plicable, since  Gochhausen  himself  in  the  very  first  chapter 
indicates  the  real  title.  Beneath  the  enigmatical  title  stands 
an  alleged  quotation  from  Shandy:  "Ein  Autor  borgt,  bettelt 
und  stiehlt  so  stark  von  dem  andern,  dass  bey  meiner  Seele ! 
die  Originalitat  fast  so  rar  geworden  ist  als  die  Ehrlichkeit."^ 
The  book  itself,  like  Sterne's  Journey,  is  divided  into  brief 
chapters  unnumbered  but  named.  As  the  author  loses 
Yorick  from  sight,  the  chapters  grow  longer.  Gochhausen 
has  availed  himself  of  an  odd  device  to  disarm  criticism, — a 
plan  used  once  or  twice  by  Schummel :  occasionally  when  the 
imitation  is  obvious,  he  repudiates  the  charge  sarcastically,  or 
anticipates  with  irony  the  critics'  censure.  For  example,  he 
gives  directions  to  his  servant  Pumper  to  pack  for  the  journey ; 
a  reader  exclaims,  "a  portmanteau,  Mr.  Author,  so  that 
everything,  even  to  that,  shall  be  just  like  Yorick,"  and  in  the 
following  passage  the  author  quarrels  with  the  critics  who  allow 
no   one   to   travel    with   a   portmanteau,   because   an   English 

^  The  quotation  is  really  from  the  spurious  ninth  volume  in  Zuckert's  translation. 


141 

clergyman  traveled  with  one.  Pumper's  misunderstanding  of 
this  objection  is  used  as  a  farther  ridicule  of  the  critics.  When 
on  the  journey,  the  author  converses  with  two  poor  wandering 
monks,  whose  conversation,  at  any  rate,  is  a  witness  to  their 
content,  the  whole  being  a  legacy  of  the  Lorenzo  episode,  and 
the  author  entitles  the  chapter :  "The  members  of  the  re- 
ligious order,  or,  as  some  critics  will  call  it,  a  wretchedly  un- 
successful imitation."  In  the  next  chapter,  "Der  Visitator" 
(pp.  125  fif.)  in  which  the  author  encounters  customs  annoy- 
ances, the  critic  is  again  allowed  to  complain  that  everything 
is  stolen  from  Yorick,  a  protest  which  is  answered  by  the 
author  quite  naively,  "Yorick  journeyed,  ate,  drank ;  I  do  too." 
In  "Die  Pause"  the  author  stands  before  the  inn  door  and 
fancies  that  a  number  of  spies  (Ausspaher)  stand  there  wait- 
ing for  him;  he  protests  that  Yorick  encountered  beggars  be- 
fore the  inn  in  Montreuil,  a  very  different  sort  of  folk.  On 
page  253  he  exclaims,  "fur  diesen  schreibe  ich  dieses  Kapitel 
nicht  und  ich — beklage  ihn !"  Here  a  footnote  suggests  "Das 
iibrige  des  Diebstahls  vid.  Yorick's  Gefangenen."  Similarly 
when  he  calls  his  servant  his  "La  Fleur,"  he  converses  with 
the  critics  about  his  theft  from  Yorick. 

The  book  is  opened  by  a  would-be  whimsical  note,  the  guess- 
ing about  the  name  of  the  book.  The  dependence  upon  Sterne, 
suggested  by  the  motto,  is  clinched  by  reference  to  this  quota- 
tion in  the  section  "Apologie,"  and  by  the  following  chapter, 
which  is  entitled  "Yorick."  The  latter  is  the  most  unequivocal 
and,  withal,  the  most  successful  imitation  of  Yorick's  manner 
which  the  volume  offers.  The  author  is  sitting  on  a  sofa  read- 
ing the  Sentimental  Journey,  and  the  idea  of  such  a  trip  is 
awakened  in  him.  Someone  knocks  and  the  door  is  opened 
by  the  postman,  as  the  narrator  is  opening  his  "Lorenzodose," 
and  the  story  of  the  poor  monk  is  touching  his  heart  now  for 
the  twentieth  time  as  strongly  as  ever.  The  postman  asks 
postage  on  the  letter  as  well  as  his  own  trivial  fee.  The 
author  counts  over  money,  miscounts  it,  then  in  counting  for- 
gets all  about  it,  puts  the  money  away  and  continues  the  read- 
ing of  Yorick.  The  postman  interrupts  him ;  the  author  grows 
impatient  and  says,  "You  want  four  groschen?"  and  is  inex- 


142 

pHcably  vexed  at  the  honesty  of  the  man  who  says  it  is  only 
three  pfennigs  for  himself  and  the  four  groschen  for  the  post. 
Here  is  a  direct  following  of  the  Lorenzo  episode ;  caprice 
rules  his  behavior  toward  an  inferior,  who  is  modest  in  his 
request.  After  the  incident,  his  spite,  his  head  and  his  heart 
and  his  "ich"  converse  in  true  Sterne  fashion  as  to  the  ad- 
visability of  his  beginning  to  read  Yorick  again.  He  reasons 
with  himself  concerning  his  conduct  toward  the  postman,  then 
in  an  apostrophe  to  Yorick  he  condemns  himself  for  failing  in 
this  little  test.  This  conversation  occupies  so  much  time  that 
he  cannot  run  after  the  postman,  but  he  resolves  that  noth- 
ing, not  even  the  fly  that  lights  on  his  nose,  shall  bring  him  so 
far  as  to  forget  wherefore  his  friend  J  .  .  .  .  sent  him  a  "Lo- 
renzodose."  And  at  the  end  of  the  section  there  is  a  picture 
of  the  snuff-box  with  the  lid  open,  disclosing  the  letters  of  the 
word  "Yorick."  The  "Lorenzodose"  is  mentioned  later,  and 
later  still  the  author  calms  his  indignation  by  opening  the  box ; 
he  fortifies  himself  also  by  a  look  at  the  treasure.^ 

Following  this  picture  of  the  snuff-box  is  an  open  letter  to 
"My  dear  J  .  .  .  ,"  who,  at  the  author's  request,  had  sent  him 
on  June  29th  a  "Lorenzodose."  Jacobi's  accompanying  words 
are  given.  The  author  acknowledges  the  difficulty  with  which 
sometimes  the  self-conquest  demanded  by  allegiance  to  the  sen- 
timental symbol  has  been  won. 

Yet,  compared  with  some  other  imitations  of  the  good 
Yorick,  the  volume  contains  but  a  moderate  amount  of  lavish 
sentiment.  The  servant  Pumper  is  a  man  of  feeling,  who 
grieves  that  the  horses  trod  the  dewdrops  from  the  blades  of 
grass.  Cast  in  the  real  Yorick  mould  is  the  scene  in  which 
Pumper  kills  a  marmot  (Hamster)  ;  upon  his  master's  expos- 
tulation that  God  created  the  little  beast  also.  Pumper  is 
touched,  wipes  the  blood  off  with  his  cuff  and  buries  the  ani- 
mal with  tenderness,  indulging  in  a  pathetic  soliloquy ;  the 
whole  being  a  variant  of  Yorick's  ass  episode. 

Marked  with  a  similar  vein  of  sentimentality  is  the  narra- 
tor's conduct  toward  the  poor  wanderer  with  his  heavy  bur- 
den :  the  author  asserts  that  he  has  never  eaten  a  roll,  put  on 

^  For  these  references  to  the  snuff-box,  see  pp.  53,  132-3,  303  and  314. 


143 

a  white  shirt,  traveled  in  a  comfortable  carriage,  or  been  borne 
by  a  strong  horse,  without  bemoaning  those  who  were  less 
fortunately  circumstanced.  A  similar  and  truly  Sterne-like 
triumph  of  feeling  over  convention  is  the  traveler's  insistence 
that  Pumper  shall  ride  with  him  inside  the  coach ;  seemingly 
a  point  derived  from  Jacobi's  failure  to  be  equally  democratic.^ 

Sterne's  emphasis  upon  the  machinery  of  his  story-telling, 
especially  his  distraught  pretense  at  logical  sequence  in  the 
ordering  of  his  material  is  here  imitated.  For  example :  near 
the  close  of  a  chapter  the  author  summons  his  servant  Pumper, 
but  since  the  chapter  bore  the  title  "Der  Brief"  and  the  servant 
can  neither  read  nor  write  a  letter,  he  says  the  latter  has  noth- 
ing to  do  in  that  chapter,  but  he  is  to  be  introduced  in  the  fol- 
lowing one.  Yet  with  Yorick's  inconsequence,  the  narrator  is 
led  aside  and  exclaims  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  "But  where 
is  Pumper?"  with  the  answer,  "Heaven  and  my  readers  know, 
it  was  to  no  purpose  that  this  chapter  was  so  named  (and  per- 
haps this  is  not  the  last  one  to  which  the  title  will  be  just  as 
appropriate)",  and  the  next  chapter  pursues  the  whimsical  at- 
tempt, beginning  "As  to  whether  Pumper  will  appear  in  this 
chapter,  about  that,  dear  reader,  I  am  not  really  sure  myself." 

The  whimsical,  unconventional  interposition  of  the  reader, 
and  the  author's  reasoning  with  him,  a  Sterne  device,  is  em- 
ployed so  constantly  in  the  book  as  to  become  a  wearying  man- 
nerism. Examples  have  already  been  cited,  additional  ones 
are  numerous :  the  fifth  section  is  devoted  to  such  conversation 
with  the  reader  concerning  the  work;  later  the  reader  objects 
to  the  narrator's  drinking  coffee  without  giving  a  chapter 
about  it ;  the  reader  is  allowed  to  express  his  wonder  as  to  what 
the  chapter  is  going  to  be  because  of  the  author's  leap ;  the 
reader  guesses  where  the  author  can  be,  when  he  begins  to 
describe  conditions  in  the  moon.  The  chapter  "Der  Einwurf" 
is  occupied  entirely  with  the  reader's  protest,  and  the  last  two 
sections  are  largely  the  record  of  fancied  conversations  with 
various  readers  concerning  the  nature  of  the  book ;  here  the 
author  discloses  himself.-     Sterne-like  whim   is   found   in  the 

^  In  "Sommerreise." 

-Other  examples  are  found  pp.  57,  90,  255,  270,  209,  312,  390,  and  elsewhere. 


144 

chapter  "Die  Nacht,"  which  consists  of  a  single  sentence:  "Ich 
schenke  Ihnen  diesen  ganzen  Zeitraum,  denn  ich  habe  ihn 
ruhig  verschlafen."  Similar  Shandean  eccentricity  is  illus- 
trated by  the  chapter  entitled  "Der  Monolog,"  which  con- 
sists of  four  lines  of  dots,  and  the  question,  "Didn't  you  think 
all  this  too,  my  readers?"  Typographical  eccentricity  is  ob- 
served also  in  the  arrangement  of  the  conversation  of  the 
ladies  A.,  B.,  C,  D.,  etc.,  in  the  last  chapter.  Like  Sterne,  our 
author  makes  lists  of  things ;  probably  inspired  by  Yorick's 
apostrophe  to  the  "Sensorium"  is  our  traveler's  appeal  to  the 
spring  of  joy.  The  description  of  the  fashion  of  walking  ob- 
served in  the  maid  in  the  moon  is  reminiscent  of  a  similar  pas- 
sage in  Schummel's  journey. 

Gochhausen's  own  work,  untrammeled  by  outside  influence, 
is  considerable,  largely  a  genial  satire  on  critics  and  philos- 
ophers ;  his  stay  in  the  moon  is  a  kind  of  Utopian  fancy. 

The  literary  journals  accepted  Gochhausen's  work  as  a 
Yorick  imitation,  condemned  it  as  such  apologetically,  but 
found  much  in  the  book  worthy  of  their  praise,^ 

Probably  the  best  known  novel  which  adopts  in  considerable 
measure  the  style  of  Tristram  Shandy  is  Wezel's  once  famous 
"Tobias  Knaut,"  the  "Lebensgeschichte  Tobias  Knauts  des 
Weisen  sonst  Stammler  genannt,  aus  Familiennachrichten 
gesammelt."^  In  this  work  the  influence  of  Fielding  is  felt 
parallel  to  that  of  Sterne.  The  historians  of  literature  all  ac- 
cord the  book  a  high  place  among  humorous  efforts  of  the 
period,  crediting  the  author  with  wit,  narrative  ability,  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  and  full  consciousness  of  plan  and  pur- 
pose.^ They  unite  also  in  the  opinion  that  "Tobias  Knaut" 
places  Wezel  in  the  ranks  of  Sterne  imitators,  but  this  can  be 
accepted  only  guardedly,  for  in  part  the  novel  must  be  re- 
garded as  a  satire  on  "Empfindsamkeit"  and  hence  in  some 
measure  be  classified  as  an  opposing  force  to  Sterne's  domin- 

^  See  Auserlesene  Bibliothek  der  neuesten  deutschen  Litteratur,  VII,  p.  399; 
Almanack  der  deutschen  Musen,  1775,  p.  75;  Magasin  der  deutschen  Critik,  III,  i, 
p.  174;  Frankfurter  Gel.  Am.,  July  i,  1774;  Allg.  deutsche  BibL,  XXVI,  2,  487; 
Teut.  Merkur,  VI,  p.  353;  Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitungen,   1774,  I,  p.   17. 

^Leipzig,  1773-76,  4  vols.     "Tobias  Knaut"  was  at  first  ascribed  to  Wieland. 

3  Gervinus,  V,  pp.  225  ff.;  Ebeling,  III,  p.  568;  Hillebrand,  II,  p.  537;  Kurz,  III, 
p.  504;  Koberstejn,  IV,  pp.  168  f.  and  V,  pp.  94  f. 


145 

ion,  especially  to  the  distinctively  German  Sterne.  That  this 
impulse,  which  later  became  the  guiding  principle  of  "Wilhel- 
mine  Arend,"  was  already  strong  in  "Tobias  Knaut"  is  hinted 
at  by  Gervinus,  but  passed  over  in  silence  by  other  writers. 
Kurz,  following  Wieland,  who  reviewed  the  novel  in  his 
Merknr,  finds  that  the  influence  of  Sterne  was  baneful.  Other 
contemporary  reviews  deplored  the  imitation  as  obscuring  and 
stultifying  the  undeniable  and  genuinely  original  talents  of  the 
author.^ 

A  brief  investigation  of  Wezel's  novel  will  easily  demon- 
strate his  indebtedness  to  Sterne.  Yet  Wezel  in  his  preface, 
anticipating  the  charge  of  imitation,  asserts  that  he  had  not 
read  Shandy  when  "Tobias"  was  begim.  Possibly  he  intends 
this  assertion  as  a  whim,  for  he  quotes  Tristram  at  some 
length.2  This  inconsistency  is  occasion  for  censure  on  the 
part  of  the  reviewers. 

Wezel's  story  begins,  like  Shandy,  "ab  ovo,"  and,  in  resem- 
blance to  Sterne's  masterpiece,  the  connection  between  the 
condition  of  the  child  before  its  birth  and  its  subsequent  life 
and  character  is  insisted  upon.  A  reference  is  later  made  to 
this.  The  work  is  episodical  and  digressive,  but  in  a  more 
extensive  way  than  Shandy;  the  episodes  in  Sterne's  novel 
are  yet  part  and  parcel  of  the  story,  infused  with  the 
personality  of  the  writer,  and  linked  indissolubly  to  the  little 
family  of  originals  whose  sayings  and  doings  are  immor- 
talized by  Sterne.  This  is  not  true  of  Wezel:  his  episodes 
and  digressions  are  much  more  purely  extraneous  in  event, 
and  nature  of  interest.  The  story  of  the  new-found  son,  which 
fills  sixty-four  pages,  is  like  a  story  within  a  story,  for  its  con- 
nection with  the  Knaut  family  is  very  remote.  This  very 
story,  interpolated  as  it  is,  is  itself  again  interrupted  by  a 
seven-page  digression  concerning  Tyrus,  Alexander,  Pipin 
and  Charlemagne,  which  the  author  states  is  taken  from  the 
one  hundred  and  twenty-first  chapter  of  his  "Lateinische  Pneu- 
matologie," — a  genuine  Sternian  pretense,  reminding  one  of  the 
"Tristrapaedia."     Whimsicality   of   manner    distinctly    remin- 

1  The  "Magasin  der  deutschen  Critik"  denied  the  imitation  altogether. 

2  I,  p.  178. 
10 


146 

iscent  of  Sterne  is  found  in  his  mock-scientific  catalogues  or 
lists  of  things,  as  in  Chapter  III,  "Deduktionen,  Dissertatio- 
nen,  Argumentationen  a  priori  und  a  posteriori,"  and  so  on ; 
plainly  adapted  from  Sterne's  idiosyncrasy  of  form  is  the  ad- 
vertisement which  in  large  red  letters  occupies  the  middle  of  a 
page  in  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  the  second  volume,  which 
reads  as  follows :  "Dienst-freundliche  Anzeige.  Jedermann, 
der  an  ernsten  Gesprachen  keinen  Gefallen  findet,  wird  freund- 
schaftlich  ersucht  alle  folgende  Blatter,  deren  Inhalt  einem 
Gesprache  ahnlich  sieht,  wohlbedachtig  zu  iiberschlagen,  d.  h. 
von  dieser  Anzeige  an  gerechnet.  Darauf  denke  ich,  soil  jeder- 
manniglich  vom.  22.  Absatze  fahren  konnen, — Cuique  Suum." 
The  following  page  is  blank :  this  is  closely  akin  to  Sterne's 
vagaries.  Like  Sterne,  he  makes  promise  of  chapter-subject.^ 
Similarly  dependent  on  Sterne's  example,  is  the  Fragment  in 
Chapter  VIII,  Volume  III,  which  breaks  off  suddenly  under 
the  plea  that  the  rest  could  not  be  found.  Like  Sterne,  our 
author  satirizes  detailed  description  in  the  excessive  account 
of  the  infinitesimals  of  personal  discomfort  after  a  carouse.^ 
He  makes  also  obscure  whimsical  allusions,  accompanied  by 
typograhical  eccentricities  (I,  p.  153).  To  be  connected  with 
the  story  of  the  Abbess  of  Andouillets  is  the  humor  "Man 
leuterirte,  appelirte — irte, — irte, — irte." 

The  author's  perplexities  in  managing  the  composition  of 
the  book  are  sketched  in  a  way  undoubtedly  derived  from 
Sterne, — for  example,  the  beginning  of  Chapter  IX  in  Volume 
III  is  a  lament  over  the  difficulties  of  chronicling  what  has 
happened  during  the  preceding  learned  disquisition.  When 
Tobias  in  anger  begins  to  beat  his  horse,  this  is  accompanied 
by  the  sighs  of  the  author,  a  really  audible  one  being  put 
in  a  footnote,  the  whole  forming  a  whimsy  of  narrative 
style  for  which  Sterne  must  be  held  responsible.  Similar 
to  this  is  the  author's  statement  (Chap.  XXV,  \''ol.  II), 
that  Lucian,  Swift,  Pope,  Wieland  and  all  the  rest  could 
not  unite  the  characteristics  which  had  just  been  predicated  of 
Selmann.     Like  Sterne,  Wezel  converses  with  the  reader  about 

II,  p.  117. 

2  I,  pp.  148  s. 


147 

the  way  of  telling-  the  story,  indulging^  in  a  mock-serious  line 
of  reasoning  with  meaningless  Sternesque  dashes.  Further  con- 
versation with  the  reader  is  found  at  the  beginning  of  Chapter 
III  in  Volume  I,  and  in  Chapter  VIII  of  the  first  volume,  he 
cries,  "Wake  up,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  and  continues  at  some 
length  a  conversation  with  these  fancied  personages  about  the 
progress  of  the  book.  Wezel  in  a  few  cases  adopted  the  worst 
feature  of  Sterne's  work  and  was  guilty  of  bad  taste  in  pre- 
cisely Yorick's  style :  Tobias's  adventure  with  the  so-called 
soldier's  wife,  after  he  has  run  away  from  home,  is  a  case  in 
point,  but  the  following  adventure  with  the  two  maidens  while 
Tobias  is  bathing  in  the  pool  is  distinctly  suggestive  of  Field- 
ing. Sterne's  indecent  suggestion  is  also  followed  in  the  hints 
at  the  possible  occasion  of  the  Original's  aversion  to  women. 
A  similar  censure  could  be  spoken  regarding  the  adventure  in 
the  tavern,-  where  the  author  hesitates  on  the  edge  of  gross- 
ness. 

Wezel  joined  other  imitators  of  Yorick  in  using  as  a  motif 
the  accidental  interest  of  lost  documents,  or  papers :  here  the 
poems  of  the  "Original,"  left  behind  in  the  hotel,  played  their 
role  in  the  tale.  The  treatment  of  the  wandering  boy  by  the 
kindly  peasant  is  clearly  an  imitation  of  Yorick's  famous  visit 
in  the  rural  cottage.  A  parallel  to  Walter  Shandy's  theory  of 
the  dependence  of  great  events  on  trifles  is  found  in  the  story 
of  the  volume  of  Tacitus,  which  by  chance  suggested  the 
sleeping  potion  for  Frau  v.  L.,  or  that  Tobias's  inability  to 
take  off  his  hat  with  his  right  hand  was  influential  on  the  boy's 
future  life.  This  is  a  reminder  of  Tristram's  obliquity  in  his 
manner  of  setting  up  his  top.  As  in  Shandy,  there  is  a  dis- 
cussion about  the  location  of  the  soul.  The  character  of  Sel- 
mann  is  a  compound  of  Yorick  and  the  elder  Shandy,  with  a 
tinge  of  satiric  exaggeration,  meant  to  chastise  the  thirst  for 
"originals"  and  overwrought  sentimentalism.  His  generosity 
and  sensitiveness  to  human  pain  is  like  Yorick.  As  a  boy  he 
would  empty  his  purse  into  the  bosom  of  a  poor  man ;  but  his 
daily   life   was   one   round   of   Shandean   speculation,   largely 

'  I.  p.   17. 

'  III,  pp.  99-104. 


148 

about  the  relationiships  of  trivial  things :  for  example,  his 
yearly  periods  of  investigating  his  motives  in  inviting  his  neigh- 
bors  Herr  v.   **   and  Herr  v.   ***   every  July  to  his   home, 

Wezel's  satire  on  the  craze  for  originality  is  exemplified  in 
the  account  of  the  "Original"  (Chap.  XXII,  Vol.  II),  who  was 
cold  when  others  were  hot,  complained  of  not  liking  his  soup 
because  the  plate  was  not  full,  but  who  threw  the  contents  of  his 
coffee  cup  at  the  host  because  it  was  filled  to  the  brim,  and 
trembled  at  the  approach  of  a  woman.  Selmann  longs  to  meet 
such  an  original.  Selmann  also  thinks  he  has  found  an  orig- 
inal in  the  inn-keeper  who  answers  everything  with  "Nein," 
greatly  to  his  own  disadvantage,  though  it  turns  out  later  that 
this  was  only  a  device  planned  by  another  character  to  gain  ad- 
vantage over  Selmann  himself.  So  also,  in  the  third  volume, 
Selmann  and  Tobias  ride  ofif  in  pursuit  of  a  sentimental  adven- 
ture, but  the  latter  proves  to  be  merely  a  jest  of  the  Captain  at 
the  expense  of  his  sentimental  friend.  Satire  on  sentimental- 
ism  is  further  unmistakable  in  the  two  maidens,  Adelheid  and 
Kunigunde,  who  weep  over  a  dead  butterfly,  and  write  a  la- 
ment over  its  demise.  In  jest,  too,  it  is  said  that  the  Captain 
made  a  "sentimental  journey  through  the  stables,"  The  author 
converses  with  Ermindus,  who  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  Eugenius, 
a  convenient  figure  for  reference,  apostrophe,  and  appeal.  The 
novelist  makes  also,  like  Sterne,  mock-pedantic  allusions,  once 
indeed  making  a  long  citation  from  a  learned  Chinese  book. 
An  expression  suggesting  Sterne  is  the  oath  taken  "bey 
den  Nachthemden  aller  Musen,"^  and  an  intentional  inconse- 
quence of  narration,  giving  occasion  to  conversation  regarding 
the  author's  control  of  his  work,  is  the  sudden  passing  over  of 
the  six  years  which  Tobias  spent  in  Selmann's  house. ^ 

In  connection  with  Wezel's  occupation  with  Sterne  and 
Sterne  products  in  Germany,  it  is  interesting  to  consider  his 
poem:    "Die    unvermuthete    Nachbarschaft.     Ein    Gesprach," 

1 II,  p.  44. 

^  For  reviews  of  "Tobias  Knaut"  see  Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitung,  April  13,  1774, 
PP-  193-5;  Magazin  der  deutschen  Critik,  III,  i,  p.  185  (1774) ;  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ans., 
April  s,  1774,  pp.  228-30;  Almanack  der  deutschen  Musen,  1775,  p.  75;  Leipziger 
Musen-Almanach,  1776,  pp.  68-69;  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XXX,  2,  pp.  524  ff.,  by 
Blester;  Teut.  Merkur,  V,  pp.  344-s;  VII,  p.  361-2,  1776,  pp.  272-3,  by  Merck. 


149 

which  was  the  second  in  a  volume  of  three  poems  entitled 
"Epistel  an  die  deutschen  Dichter,"  the  name  of  the  first  poem, 
and  published  in  Leipzig  in  1775.  This  slight  work  is  written 
for  the  most  part  in  couplets  and  covers  twenty-three  pages. 
Wezel  represents  Doktor  Young,  the  author  of  the  gloomy 
"Night  Thoughts"  and  "Der  gute  Lacher, — Lorenz  Sterne" 
as  occupying  positions  side  by  side  in  his  book-case.  This 
proximity  gives  rise  to  a  conversation  between  the  two  an- 
tipodal British  authors :     Sterne  says : 

"Wir  brauchen  beide  vielen  Raum, 
Your  Reverence  viel  zum  Handeringen, 
Und  meine  Wenigkeit,  zum  Pfeifen,  Tanzen,  Singen." 
and  later, 

.  .  .  "Und  will  von  Herzen  gern  der  Thor  der  Thoren  seyn ; 

Jiingst  that  ich  ernst:  gleich  hielt  die 

Narrheit  mich  beym  Rocke. 

Wo,  rief  sie,  willst  du  bin, — Du  !  weisst  du  unsern  Bund. 

1st  das  der  Dank?    Du  lachtest  dich  gesund." 

To  Sterne's  further  enunciation  of  this  joyous  theory  of  life, 
Young  naturally  replies  in  characteristic  terms,  emphasizing 
life's  evanescence  and  joy's  certain  blight.  But  Sterne,  though 
acknowledging  the  transitoriness  of  life's  pleasures,  denies 
Young's  deductions.  Yorick's  conception  of  death  is  quite  in 
contrast  to  Young's  picture  and  one  must  admit  that  it  has  no 
justification  in  Sterne's  writings.  On  the  contrary,  Yorick's 
life  was  one  long  flight  from  the  grim  enemy.  The  idea  of 
death  cherished  by  Asmus  in  his  "Freund  Hein,"  the  welcome 
guest,  seems  rather  the  conception  which  Wezel  thrusts  on 
Sterne.  Death  comes  to  Yorick  in  full  dress,  a  youth,  a  Mer- 
cury: 

"Er  thuts,  er  kommt  zu  mir,  'Komm,  guter  Lorenz,  flieh  !" 
So  ruft  er  auf  mich  zu.     'Dein  Haus  fangt  an  zu  wanken, 
Die  Mauern  spalten  sich;  Gewolb  und  Balken  schwanken, 
Was  nuzt  dir  so  ein  Haus?  .  .  .'  " 

so  he  takes  the  wreathed  cup,  drinks  joyfully,  and  follows 
death,  embracing  him. 

"Das  ist  mein  Tod,  ich  sehe  keinen  Knochen, 
Womit  du  ihn,  gleich  einem  Zahnarzt,  schmiickst, 
Geschieht  es  heute  noch,  geschieht's  in  wenig  Wochen, 


150 

Dass  du,  Gevatter  Tod,  nur  meine  Hande  driickst? 
Ganz  nach  Bequemlichkeit !  du  bist  mir  zwar  willkommen." 

The  latter  part  of  the  poem  contains  a  rather  extended  lauda- 
tion of  the  part  played  by  sympathetic  feeling  in  the  con- 
duct of  life. 

That  there  would  be  those  in  Germany  as  in  England,  who 
saw  in  Sterne's  works  only  a  mine  of  vulgar  suggestion,  a  re- 
lation sometimes  delicate  and  clever,  sometimes  bald  and  ugly, 
of  the  indelicate  and  sensual,  is  a  foregone  conclusion.  Un- 
doubtedly some  found  in  the  general  approbation  which  was 
accorded  Sterne's  books  a  sanction  for  forcing  upon  the  public 
the  products  of  their  own  diseased  imaginations. 

This  pernicious  influence  of  the  English  master  is  exempli- 
fied by  Wegener's  "Raritaten,  ein  hinterlassenes  Werk  des 
Kusters  von  Rummelsberg."^  The  first  volume  is  dedicated 
to  "Sebaldus  Nothanker,"  and  the  long  document  claims  for  the 
author  unusual  distinction,  in  thus  foregoing  the  possibil- 
ity of  reward  or  favor,  since  he  dedicates  his  book  to  a  ficti- 
tious personage.  The  idea  of  the  book  is  to  present  "merry 
observations"  for  every  day  in  the  year.  With  the  end  of  the 
fourth  volume  the  author  has  reached  March  17,  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  Allgenieiiie  deiitsche  Bihliothek,  the  sixth  volume  in- 
cludes May  22.  The  present  writer  was  unable  to  examine  the 
last  volume  to  discover  whether  the  year  was  rounded  out  in 
this  way. 

The  author  claims  to  write  "neither  for  surly  Catos  nor  for 
those  fond  of  vulgar  jests  and  smutty  books,"  but  for  those 
who  will  laugh.  At  the  close  of  his  preface  he  confesses  the 
source  of  his  inspiration :  "In  order  to  inspire  myself  with 
something  of  the  spirit  of  a  Sterne,  I  made  a  decoction  out  of 
his  writings  and  drank  the  same  eagerly ;  indeed  I  have  burned 
the  finest  passages  to  powder,  and  then  partaken  of  it  with 
warm  English  ale,  but" — he  had  the  insight  and  courtesy  to 
add — "it  helped  me  just  a  little  as  it  aids  a  lame  man,  if  he 
steps  in  the  footprints  of  one  who  can  walk  nimbly."  The 
very  nature  of  this  author's  dependence  on   Sterne  excludes 

1  Berlin,  nine  parts,  1775-1785.  Vol  I,  pp.  128  (1775);  ^'o!.  II,  pp.  122;  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  141;  Vol.  IV,  pp.  198  (1779);  Vols.  V  and  VI,  1780;  Vols.  I  and  II  were 
published  in  a  new  edition  in  1778,  and  Vol.  Ill  in  17S0   (a  third  edition). 


151 

here  any  extended  analysis  of  the  connection.  The  style  is 
abrupt,  full  of  afifected  gaiety  and  raillery,  conversational  and 
journalistic.  The  stories,  observations  and  reflections,  in 
prose  and  verse,  represent  one  and  all  the  ribaldry  of  Sterne 
at  its  lowest  ebb,  as  illustrated,  for  example,  by  the  story  of 
the  abbess  of  Andouillets,  but  without  the  charm  and  grace 
with  which  that  tale  begins.  The  author  copies  Sterne  in  the 
tone  of  his  lucubrations ;  the  material  is  drawn  from  other 
sources.  In  the  first  volume,  at  any  rate,  his  only  direct  in- 
debtedness to  Sterne  is  the  introduction  of  the  Shandean 
theory  of  noses  in  the  article  for  January  ii.  The  pages  also, 
sometimes  strewn  with  stars  and  dashes,  present  a  somewhat 
Sternesque  appearance. 

These  volumes  are  reviewed  in  the  All gemeine  deutsche  Bib- 
Hothek^  with  h\\\  appreciation  of  their  pernicious  influence,  and 
with  open  acknowledgment  that  their  success  demonstrates  a 
pervision  of  taste  in  the  fatherland.  The  author  of  the  "Lit- 
terarische  Reise  durch  Deutschland"^  advises  his  sister,  to 
whom  his  letters  are  directed,  to  put  her  handkerchief  before 
her  mouth  at  the  very  mention  of  Wegener,  and  fears  that  the 
very  name  has  befouled  his  pen.  A  similar  condemnation  is 
meted  out  in  Wieland's  Merkur.^ 

A  similar  commentary  on  contemporary  taste  is  obtained 
from  a  somewhat  similar  collection  of  stories,  "Der  Geist  der 
Romane  im  letzten  Viertel  des  i8ten  Jahrhunderts,"  Breslau 
and  Hirschberg,  1788,  in  which  the  author  (S.  G.  Preisser?) 
claims  to  follow  the  spirit  of  the  period  and  gives  six  stories 
of  revolting  sensuality,  with  a  thin  whitewash  of  teary  senti- 
mentalism. 

The  pursuit  of  references  to  Yorick  and  direct  appeals  to  his 
writings  in  the  German  literary  world  of  the  century  succeed- 
ing the  era  of  his  great  popularity  would  be  a  monstrous  and 
fruitless  task.     Such  references  in  books,  letters  and  period- 

iXXIX,  I,  p.  186;  XXXVI,  2,  p.  601;  XLIII,  I,  p.  301;  XLVI,  2,  p.  602;  LXII, 

I,  p.  307. 

-  See  p.  8. 

'  1777,  II,  p.  278,  review  of  Vols.  II  and  III.  Vol.  I  is  reviewed  in  Frankfurtei 
Gel.  Ana.,  1775,  p.  719-20  (October  31),  and  IX  in  Allg.  Litt.-Zeitung,  Jena,  1785, 
V,  Supplement-Band,  p.  80. 


152 

icals  multiply  beyond  possibility  of  systematic  study.  One 
might  take  the  works^  of  Friedrich  Matthison  as  a  case  in 
point.  He  visits  the  grave  of  Musaus,  even  as  Tristram 
Shandy  sought  for  the  resting-place  of  the  two  lovers  in 
Lyons  (III,  p.  312)  ;  as  he  travels  in  Italy,  he  remarks  that  a 
certain  visit  would  have  afforded  Yorick's  "Empfindsamkeit" 
the  finest  material  for  an  Ash-Wednesday  sermon  (IV,  p.  67). 
Sterne's  expressions  are  cited :  "Erdwasserball"  for  the  earth 
(^j  P-  57) >  "Wo  keine  Pflanze,  die  da  nichts  zu  suchen  hatte, 
eine  bleibende  State  fand"  (V,  p.  302)  ;  two  farmsteads  in  the 
Tyrol  are  designated  as  "Nach  dem  Ideal  Yoricks"  (VI,  pp. 
24-25).  He  refers  to  the  story  of  the  abbess  of  Andouillets 
(VI,  64)  ;  he  narrates  (VIII,  pp.  203-4)  an  anecdote  of 
Sterne  which  has  just  been  printed  in  the  Adress-Comptoir- 
Nachrichtcn  (i76g,  p.  151)  ;  he  visits  Prof.  Levade  in  Lau- 
sanne, who  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  Sterne  (V,  p.  279), 
and  refers  to  Yorick  in  other  minor  regards  (VII,  158;  VIII, 
pp.  51,  yy,  and  Brief e  II,  76).  Yet  in  spite  of  this  evident 
infatuation,  Matthison's  account  of  his  own  travels  cannot  be 
classed  as  an  imitation  of  Yorick,  but  is  purely  objective,  de- 
scriptive, without  search  for  humor  or  pathos,  with  no  intro- 
duction of  personalities  save  friends  and  celebrities.  Heinse 
alluded  to  Sterne  frequently  in  his  letters  to  Gleim  (1770- 
1771),-  but  after  August  23,  1771,  Sterne  vanished  from  his 
fund  of  allusion,  though  the  correspondence  lasts  until  1802,  a 
fact  of  significance  in  dating  the  German  enthusiasm  for 
Sterne  and  the  German  knowledge  of  Shandy  from  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Sentimental  Journey,  and  likewise  an  indica- 
tion of  the  insecurity  of  Yorick's  personal  hold. 

Miscellaneous  allusions  to  Sterne,  illustrating  the  magnitude 
and  duration  of  his  popularity,  may  not  be  without  interest 
Kastner  "Vermischte  Schriften,"  II,  p.  134   (Steckenpferd) 
Lenz  "Gesammelte  Werke,"  Berlin,   1828,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  312 
letter  from  the  Duchess  Amalie,  August  2,  1779,  in  "Brief e 
an  und  von  Merck,"  Darmstadt,  1838;  letter  of  Caroline  Her- 
der to  Knebel,  April  2,  1799,  in  "K.  L.  von  Knebel's  Liter- 

^  See  p.  89. 

^  Briefe   deutscher  Gelehrten   aus   Gleims   Nachlass.      (Zurich,    1806.) 


153 

arischer  Nachlass,"  Leipzig,  1835,  p.  324  (Yorick's  "heiliges 
Sensorium")  ;  a  rather  unfavorable  but  apologetic  criticism  of 
Shandy  in  the  "Hinterlassene  Schriften"  of  Charlotta  Sophia 
Sidonia  Seidelinn,  Niirnberg,  1793,  p.  227 ;  "Schiller's  Briefe," 
edited  by  Fritz  Jonas,  I,  pp.  136,  239 ;  in  Hamann's  letters,  "Le- 
ben  und  Schriften,"  edited  by  Dr.  C.  H.  Gildermeister,  Gotha, 
1875,  II,  p.  338;  III,  p.  56;  V,  pp.  16,  163;  in  C.  L.  Jiinger's 
"Anlage  zu  einem  Familiengesprach  iiber  die  Physiognomik" 
in  Deutsches  Museum,  II,  pp.  781-809,  where  the  French 
barber  who  proposes  to  dip  Yorick's  wig  in  the  sea  is  taken  as  a 
type  of  exaggeration.  And  a  similar  reference  is  found  in 
Wieland's  Merkur,  1799,  I,  p.  15  :  Yorick's  Sensorium  is  again 
cited,  Merkur,  1791,  II,  p.  95.  Other  references  in  the  Merkur 
are:  1774,  III,  p.  52;  1791,  I,  p.  418;  1800,  I,  p.  14;  1804,  I,  pp. 
19-21;  Deutsches  Museum,  IV,  pp.  66,  462;  Neuer  Gelehrter 
Mercurius,  Altona,  1773,  August  19,  in  review  of  Goethe's 
"Gotz ;"  Almanack  der  deutschen  Musen,  lyyi,  p.  93.  And  thus 
the  references  scatter  themselves  down  the  decades.  "Das  Wort- 
lein  Und,"  by  F.  A.  Krummacher  (Duisberg  und  Essen,  1811), 
bore  a  motto  taken  from  the  Koran,  and  contained  the  story  of 
Uncle  Toby  and  the  fiy  with  a  personal  application,  and 
Yorick's  division  of  travelers  is  copied  bodily  and  applied  to 
critics.  Friedrich  Hebbel,  probably  in  1828,  gave  his  New- 
foundland dog  the  name  of  Yorick-Sterne-Monarch.^  Yorick 
is  familiarly  mentioned  in  Wilhelm  Raabe's  "Chronik  der 
Sperlingsgasse"  (1857),  and  in  Ernst  von  Wolzogen's  "Der 
Dornenweg,"  two  characters  address  one  another  in  Yorick 
similes.  Indeed,  in  the  summer  of  1902,  a  Berlin  newspaper 
was  publishing  "Eine  Empfindsame  Reise  in  einem  Automo- 
bile."2 

Musaus  is  named  as  an  imitator  of  Sterne  by  Koberstein, 

1  Emil  Kuh's  life  of  Hebbel,  Wien,  1877,  I,  p.  117-118. 

*  The  "Empfindsame  Reise  der  Prinzessin  Ananas  nach  Gros-glogau"  (Riez,  1798, 
pp.  68,  by  Grafin  Lichterau?)  in  its  revolting  loathesomeness  and  satirical  mean- 
ness is  an  example  of  the  vulgarity  which  could  parade  under  the  name.  In  1801 
we  find  "Prisen  aus  der  horneren  Dose  des  gesunden  Menschenverstandes,"  a  series 
of  letters  of  advice  from  father  to  son.  A  play  of  Stephanie  the  younger,  "Der 
Eigensinnige,"  produced  January  29,  1774,  is  said  to  have  connection  with  Tristram 
Shandy;  if  so,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  sole  example  of  direct  adaptation  from  Sterne 
to  the  German  stage.    "Neue  Schauspiele."    Pressburg  and  Leipzig,  1771-73.  Vol.  X. 


154 

and  Erich  Schmidt  implies  in  his  "Richardson,  Rousseau  und 
Goethe,"  that  he  followed  Sterne  in  his  "Grandison  der 
Zweite,"  which  could  hardly  be  possible,  for  "Grandison  der 
Zweite"  was  first  published  in  1760,  and  was  probably  written 
during  1759,  that  is,  before  Sterne  had  published  Tristram 
Shandy.  Adolph  von  Knigge  is  also  mentioned  by  Koberstein  as 
a  follower  of  Sterne,  and  Baker  includes  Knigge's  "Reise  nach 
Braunschweig"  and  "Briefe  auf  einer  Reise  aus  Lothringen" 
in  his  list.  Their  connection  with  Sterne  cannot  be  designated 
as  other  than  remote ;  the  former  is  a  merry  vagabond  story, 
reminding  one  much  more  of  the  tavern  and  way-faring  ad- 
ventures in  Fielding  and  Smollett,  and  suggesting  Sterne  only 
in  the  constant  conversation  with  the  reader  about  the  progress 
of  the  book  and  the  mechanism  of  its  construction.  One  ex- 
ample of  the  hobby-horse  idea  in  this  narration  may  perhaps 
be  traced  to  Sterne.  The  "Briefe  auf  einer  Reise  aus  Lothrin- 
gen" has  even  less  connection ;  it  shares  only  in  the  increase 
of  interest  in  personal  accounts  of  travel.  Knigge's  novels, 
"Peter  Glaus"  and  "Der  Roman  meines  Lebens,"  are  decidedly 
not  imitations  of  Sterne;  a  clue  to  the  character  of  the  former 
may  be  obtained  from  the  fact  that  it  was  translated  into  Eng- 
lish as  "The  German  Gil  Bias."  "Der  Roman  meines  Lebens" 
is  a  t3^pical  eighteenth  century  love-story  written  in  letters, 
with  numerous  characters,  various  intrigues  and  unexpected 
adventures ;  indeed,  a  part  of  the  plot,  involving  the  abduction 
of  one  of  the  characters,  reminds  one  of  "Clarissa  Harlowe." 
Sterne  is,  however,  incidentally  mentioned  in  both  books,  is 
quoted  in  "Peter  Glaus"  (Chapter  VI,  Vol.  II),  and  Walter 
Shandy's  theory  of  Christian  names  is  cited  in  "Der  Roman 
meines  Lebens."^  That  Knigge  had  no  sympathy  with  exag- 
gerated sentimentalism  is  seen  in  a  passage  in  his  "Umgang  mit 
Menschen,"^  Knigge  admired  and  appreciated  the  real  Sterne 
and  speaks  in  his  "Ueber  Schriftsteller  und  Schriftstellerei"^' 
of  Yorick's  sharpening  observation  regarding  the  little  but  yet 
important  traits  of  character. 

^  p.   185,  edition  of  1805. 
'  See  below  p.  166-7. 
^Hannover,   1792,  pp.  80,  263. 


155 

Moritz  August  von  Thiimmel  in  his  famous  "Reise  in  die 
mittaglichen  Provinzen  von  Frankreich"  adopted  Sterne's  gen- 
eral idea  of  sentimental  journeying,  shorn  largely  of  the  ca- 
priciousness  and  whimsicality  which  marked  Sterne's  pilgrim- 
age. He  followed  Sterne  also  in  driving  the  sensuous  to  the 
borderland  of  the  sensual. 

Hippel's  novels,  "Lebenslaufe  nach  aufsteigender  Linie"  and 
"Kreuz  und  Querziige  des  Ritters  A.  bis  Z."  were  purely  Shan- 
dean  products  in  which  a  humor  unmistakably  imitated  from 
Sterne  struggles  rather  unsuccessfully  with  pedagogical 
seriousness.  Jean  Paul  was  undoubtedly  indebted  to  Sterne 
for  a  part  of  his  literary  equipment,  and  his  works  afford  proof 
both  of  his  occupation  with  Sterne's  writings  and  its  effect 
upon  his  own.  A  study  of  Hippel's  "Lebenslaufe"  in  con- 
nection with  both  Sterne  and  Jean  Paul  was  suggested  but  a 
few  years  after  Hippel's  death  by  a  reviewer  in  the  Neue 
Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wisscnschaften'-  as  a  fruitful  topic  for 
investigation.  A  detailed,  minute  study  of  von  Thummel, 
Hippel  and  Jean  Paul-  in  connection  with  the  English  master 
is  purposed  as  a  continuation  of  the  present  essay.  Heine's 
pictures  of  travel,  too,  have  something  of  Sterne  in  them. 

iLXVI,  p.   79.  1801. 

'  Sometime  after  the  completion  of  this  present  essay  there  was  published  in 
Berlin,  a  study  of  "Sterne,  Hippel  and  Jean  Paul,"  by  J.  Czerny(  1904).  I  have 
not  yet  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  it. 


CHAPTER  VII 

OPPOSITION  TO  STERNE  AND  HIS  TYPE  OF  SEN- 

TIMENTALISM 

Sterne's  influence  in  Germany  lived  its  own  life,  and  grad- 
ually and  imperceptibly  died  out  of  letters,  as  an  actuating 
principle.  Yet  its  dominion  was  not  achieved  without  some 
measure  of  opposition.  The  sweeping  condemnation  which 
the  soberer  critics  heaped  upon  the  incapacities  of  his  imitators 
has  been  exemplified  in  the  accounts  already  given  of  Schum- 
mel.  Bock  and  others.  It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  a 
little  more  closely  this  current  of  antagonism.  The  tone  of 
protest  was  largely  directed,  the  edge  of  satire  was  chiefly 
whetted,  against  the  misunderstanding  adaptation  of  Yorick's 
ways  of  thinking  and  writing,  and  only  here  and  there  were 
voices  raised  to  detract  in  any  way  from  the  genius  of  Sterne. 
He  never  suffered  in  Germany  such  an  eclipse  of  fame  as  was 
his  fate  in  England.  He  was  to  the  end  of  the  chapter  a  rec- 
ognized prophet,  an  uplifter  and  leader.  The  far-seeing,  clear- 
minded  critics,  as  Lessing,  Goethe  and  Herder,  expressed 
themsleves  quite  unequivocally  in  this  regard,  and  there  was 
later  no  withdrawal  of  former  appreciation.  Indeed,  Goethe's 
significant  words  already  quoted  came  from  the  last  years  of 
his  life,  when  the  new  century  had  learned  to  smile  almost  in- 
credulously at  the  relation  of  a  bygone  folly. 

In  the  very  heyday  of  Sterne's  popularity,  1772,  a  critic  of 
Wieland's  "Diogenes"  in  the  Aiiserlesene  Bibliothek  der  neue- 
sten  deutschen  Litteratur^  bewails  Wieland's  imitation  of 
Yorick,  whom  the  critic  deems  a  far  inferior  writer,  "Sterne, 
whose  works  will  disappear,  while  Wieland's  masterpieces 
are  still  the  pleasure  of  latest  posterity"  This  review  of 
"Diogenes"     is,     perhaps,     rather     more     an     exaggerated 

1 1,  p.  103,  Lemgo. 

156 


157 

compliment  to  Wieland  than  a  studied  blow  at  Sterne, 
and  this  thought  is  recognized  by  the  reviewer  in  the 
Frankfurter  Gelehrtc  Anseigen,^  who  designates  the  com- 
pliment as  "dubious"  and  "insulting,"  especially  in  view 
of  Wieland's  own  personal  esteem  for  Sterne.  Yet  these 
words,  even  as  a  relative  depreciation  of  Sterne  during  the 
period  of  his  most  universal  popularity,  are  not  insignificant. 
Heinrich  Leopold  Wagner,  a  tutor  at  Saarbriicken,  in  1770, 
records  that  one  member  of  a  reading  club  which  he  had 
founded  "regarded  his  taste  as  insuhed  because  I  sent  him 
"Yorick's  Empfindsame  Reise."^  But  Wagner  regarded  this 
instance  as  a  proof  of  Saarbriicken  ignorance,  stupidity  and 
lack  of  taste ;  hence  the  incident  is  but  a  wavering  testimony 
when  one  seeks  to  determine  the  amount  and  nature  of  opposi- 
tion to  Yorick. 

We  find  another  derogatory  fling  at  Sterne  himself  and  a 
regret  at  the  extent  of  his  influence  in  an  anonymous  book  en- 
titled "Betrachtungen  iiber  die  englischen  Dichter,"^  published 
at  the  end  of  the  great  Yorick  decade.  The  author  compares 
Sterne  most  unfavorably  with  Addison :  "If  the  humor  of  the 
Spectator  and  Tatler  be  set  off  against  the  digressive  whimsi- 
cality of  Sterne,"  he  says,  "it  is,  as  if  one  of  the  Graces  stood 
beside  a  Bacchante.  And  yet  the  pampered  taste  of  the  pres- 
ent day  takes  more  pleasure  in  a  Yorick  than  in  an  Addison." 
But  a  reviewer  in  the  AUgemeine  deiitsche  Bibliothek*  dis- 
counts this  author's  criticisms  of  men  of  established  fame,  such 
as  Shakespeare,  Swift,  Yorick,  and  suggests  youth,  or  brief 
acquaintance  with  English  literature,  as  occasion  for  his  in- 
adequate judgments.  Indeed,  Yorick  disciples  were  quick  to 
resent  any  shadow  cast  upon  his  name.  Thus  the  remark  in 
a  letter  printed  in  the  Deutsches  Museum  that  Asmus  was  the 
German  Yorick  "only  a  better  moral  character,"  called  forth 
a  long  article  in  the  same  periodical  for  September,  1779,  by 

^  1772,  July  7. 

2  See   Erich  Schmidt's  "Heinrich  Leopold  Wagner,  Goethe's  Jugendgenosse,"  2d 
edition,  Jena,  1879,  p.  82. 
'  Berlin,   1779,  pp.   86. 
♦XLIV,   I,  p.   IDS. 


158 

L.  H.  N./  vigorously  defending  Sterne  as  a  man  and  a  writer. 
The  greatness  of  his  human  heart  and  the  breadth  and  depth 
of  his  sympathies  are  given  as  the  unanswerable  proofs  of  his 
moral  worth.  This  defense  is  vehemently  seconded  in  the 
same  magazine  by  Joseph  von  Retzer. 

The  one  great  opponent  of  the  whole  sentimental  tendency, 
whose  censure  of  Sterne's  disciples  involved  also  a  denunci- 
ation of  the  master  himself,  was  the  Gottingen  professor, 
Georg  Christopher  Lichtenberg."-  In  his  inner  nature 
Lichtenberg  had  much  in  common  with  Sterne  and  Sterne's 
imitators  in  Germany,  with  the  whole  ecstatic,  eccentric 
movement  of  the  time.  Julian  Schmidt^  says :  "So  much 
is  sure,  at  any  rate,  that  the  greatest  adversary  of  the  new 
literature  was  of  one  flesh  and  blood  with  it."^  But  his  period 
of  residence  in  England  shortly  after  Sterne's  death  and  his 
association  then  and  afterwards  with  Englishmen  of  eminence 
render  his  attitude  toward  Sterne  in  large  measure  an 
English  one,  and  make  an  idealization  either  of  the  man  or 
of  his  work  impossible  for  him. 

The  contradiction  between  the  greatness  of  heart  evinced  in 
Sterne's  novels  and  the  narrow  selfishness  of  the  author  him- 
self is  repeatedly  noted  by  Lichtenberg.  His  knowledge  of 
Sterne's  character  was  derived  from  acquaintance  with  many 
of  Yorick's  intimate  friends  in  London.  In  "Beobachtungen 
iiber  den  Menschen,"  he  says:  "I  can't  help  smiling  when  the 
good  souls  who  read  Sterne  with  tears  of  rapture  in  their  eyes 
fancy  that  he  is  mirroring  himself  in  his  book.  Sterne's 
simplicity,  his  warm  heart,  over-flowing  with  feeling,  his  soul, 
sympathizing  with  everything  good  and  noble,  and  all  the  other 

^Probably  Ludwig  Heinrich  von  Nicolay,  the  poet  and  fable-writer  (1727-1820). 
The  references  to  the  Deutsches  Museum  are  respectively  YI,  p.  384;  VIII,  pp.  220- 
235;  X,  pp.  464  ff. 

^  "Georg  Christoph  Lichtenberg's  Vermischte  Schriften,"  edited  by  Ludwig 
Christian  Lichtenberg  and  Friedrich  Kries,  new  edition,  Gottingen,   1844-46,  8  vols. 

^  "Geschichte  des  geistigen  Lebens  in  Deutschland,"  Leipzig,  1862,  II,  p.   585. 

*  See  also  Gervinus,  "Geschichte  der  deutschen  Dichtung,"  5th  edition,  1874,  V. 
p.  194.  "Ein  Original  selbst  und  mehr  als  irgend  einer  befahigt  die  humoristischen 
Rotnane  auf  deutschen  Boden  zu  verpflanzen."  Gervinus  says  also  (V^,  p.  221) 
that  the  underlying  thought  of  Musaus  in  his  "Physiognrmische  Reisen"  would,  if 
handled  by  Lichtenberg,  have  made  the  most  fruitful  stuff  for  a  humorous  novel 
in  Sterne's  style. 


159 

expressions,  whatever  they  may  be ;  and  the  sigh  'Alas,  poor 
Yorick,'  which  expresses  everything  at  once — have  become 
proverbial  among  us  Germans.  .  .  .  Yorick  was  a  crawling 
parasite,  a  flatterer  of  the  great,  an  unendurable  burr  on  the 
clothing  of  those  upon  whom  he  had  determined  to  sponge  \'"^ 

In  "Timorus"  he  calls  Sterne  "ein  scandalum  Ecclesiae"  ;- 
he  doubts  the  reality  of  Sterne's  nobler  emotions  and  con- 
demns him  as  a  clever  juggler  with  words,  who  by  artful  ma- 
nipulation of  certain  devices  aroused  in  us  sympathy,  and  he 
snatches  away  the  mask  of  loving,  hearty  sympathy  and  dis- 
closes the  grinning  mountebank.  With  keen  insight  into 
Sterne's  mind  and  method,  he  lays  down  a  law  by  which,  he 
says,  it  is  always  possible  to  discover  whether  the  author  of  a 
touching  passage  has  really  been  moved  himself,  or  has  merely 
with  astute  knowledge  of  the  human  heart  drawn  our  tears 
by  a  sly  choice  of  touching  features.^ 

Akin  to  this  is  the  following  passage  in  which  the  author  is 
unquestionably  thinking  of  Sterne,  although  he  does  not  men- 
tion him :  "A  heart  ever  full  of  kindly  feeling  is  the  greatest 
gift  which  Heaven  can  bestow ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  itching 
to  keep  scribbling  about  it,  and  to  fancy  oneself  great  in  this 
scribbling  is  one  of  the  greatest  punishments  which  can  be  in- 
flicted upon  one  who  writes."*  He  exposes  the  heartlessness 
of  Sterne's  pretended  sympathy:  "A  three  groschen  piece  is 
ever  better  than  a  tear,"^  and  "sympathy  is  a  poor  kind  of 
alms-giving,""  are  obviously  thoughts  suggested  by  Yorick's 
sentimentalism.'^ 

The  folly  of  the  "Lorenzodosen"  is  several  times  mentioned 

1 1,  p.  184  f. 
="111,  p.  112. 

'II,  11-12:  "Im  ersten  Fall  wird  er  nie,  nach  dem  die  Stelle  voriiber  ist,  seinen 
Sieg  plotzlich  aufgeben.  So  wie  bei  ihm  sich  die  Leidenschaft  kiihlt,  kiihlt  sie  sich 
audi  bei  uns  und  er  bringt  uns  ab,  ohne  dass  wir  es  wissen.  Hingegen  im  letztern 
Fall  nimmt  er  sich  saltan  die  Miihe,  sich  seines  Sieges  zu  bedienen,  sondern  wirft 
den  Leser  oft  mehr  zur  Bewunderung  seiner  Kunst,  als  seines  Herzens  in  eine 
andere  Art  von  \'erfassung  hinein,  die  ihn  selbst  nichts  kostet  als  Witz,  den  Leser 
fast  xitn  alias  bringt,  was  er  vorher  gawonnen  hatte." 

*  V,  95. 

^  I,  p.   136. 

«  I,  p.   151. 

'  See  also  I,  p.   139. 


160 

with  open  or  covert  ridicule^  and  the  imitators  of  Sterne  are 
repeatedly  told  the  fruitlessness  of  their  endeavor  and  the  ab- 
surdity of  their  accomplishment.-  His  "Vorschlag  zu  einem 
Orbis  Pictus  fiir  deutsche  dramatische  Schriftsteller,  Romanen- 
dichter  und  Schauspieler"^  is  a  satire  on  the  lack  of  originality 
among  those  who  boasted  of  it,  and  sought  to  win  attention 
through  pure  eccentricities. 

The  Fragments'*  are  concerned,  as  the  editors  say,  with  an 
evil  of  the  literature  in  those  days,  the  period  of  the  Sentimen- 
talists and  the  "Kraftgenies."  Among  the  seven  fragments  may 
be  noted :  "Lorenzo  Eschenheimers  empfindsame  Reise  nach 
Laputa,"  a  clever  satirical  sketch  in  the  manner  of  Swift,  bit- 
terly castigating  that  of  which  the  English  people  claim  to  be 
the  discoverers  (sentimental  journeying)  and  the  Germans 
think  themselves  the  improvers.  In  "Bittschrift  der  Wahnsin- 
nigen"  and  "Parakletor"  the  unwholesome  literary  tendencies 
of  the  age  are  further  satirized.  His  brief  essay,  "Ueber  die 
Vornamen,"^  is  confessedly  suggested  by  Sterne  and  the  sketch 
"Dass  du  auf  dem  Blockberg  warst,""  with  its  mention  of  the 
green  book  entitled  "Echte  deutsche  Fliiche  und  Verwiin- 
schungen  fiir  alle  Stande,"  is  manifestly  to  be  connected  in  its 
genesis  with  Sterne's  famous  collection  of  oaths.'^  Lichten- 
berg's  comparison  of  Sterne  and  Fielding  is  familiar  and  sig- 
nificant.* "Aus  Lichtenbergs  Nachlass :  Aufsatze,  Gedichte 
Tagebuchblatter,  Briefe,"  edited  by  Albert  Leitzmann,^  con- 
tains additional  mention  of  Sterne. 

The  name  of  Helfreich  Peter  Sturz  may  well  be  coupled 
with  that  of  Lichtenberg,  as  an  opponent  of  the  Sterne  cult  and 

»  II,  p.  209;   III,  p.   11;   VII,  p.   133. 

*  I,  p.  136;  II,  pp.  13,  39,  209;  165,  "Die  Nachahmer  Sterne's  sind  gleichsam 
die  Pajazzi  desselben." 

*  In  Gottingisches  Magazin,  1780,  Schriften  IV,  pp.  186-227:  "Thoricht  affec- 
tirte  Sonderbarkeit  in  dieser  Methode  wird  das  Kriterium  von  Originalitat  und  das 
sicherste  Zeichen,  dass  man  einen  Kopf  habe,  dieses  wenn  man  slch  des  Tages 
ein  Paar  Mai  darauf  stellt.  Wenn  dieses  auch  eine  Sternisch  Kunst  ware,  so  ist 
wohl  so  viel  gewiss,  cs  ist  keine  der  schwersten." 

*  II,  pp.   199-244- 
"  V,  p.  250. 

«  VI,  p.   195. 

'Tristram  Shandy,  I,  pp.   172-180. 

*  II,  p.   12. 
"Weimar,    1899. 


161 

its  German  distortions,  for  his  information  and  point  of  view 
were  likewise  drawn  direct  from  English  sources.  Sturz  ac- 
companied King  Christian  VII  of  Denmark  on  his  journey  to 
France  and  England,  which  lasted  from  May  6,  1768,  to  Jan- 
uary 14,  1769^;  hence  his  stay  in  England  falls  in  a  time  but  a 
few  months  after  Sterne's  death  (March  18,  1768),  when  the 
ungrateful  metropolis  was  yet  redolent  of  the  late  lion's  wit 
and  humor.  Sturz  was  an  accomplished  linguist  and  a  com- 
plete master  of  English,  hence  found  it  easy  to  associate  with 
Englishmen  of  distinction  whom  he  was  privileged  to  meet 
through  the  favor  of  his  royal  patron.  He  became  acquainted 
with  Garrick,  who  was  one  of  Sterne's  intimate  friends,  and 
from  him  Sturz  learned  much  of  Yorick,  especially  that  more 
wholesome  revulsion  of  feeling  against  Sterne's  obscenities 
and  looseness  of  speech,  which  set  in  on  English  soil  as  soon 
as  the  potent  personality  of  the  author  himself  had  ceased  to 
compel  silence  and  blind  opinion.  England  began  to  wonder 
at  its  own  infatuation,  and,  gaining  perspective,  to  view  the 
writings  of  Sterne  in  a  more  rational  light.  Into  the  first 
spread  of  this  reaction  Sturz  was  introduced,  and  the  estimate 
of  Sterne  which  he  carried  away  with  him  was  vmdoubtedly 
colored  by  it.  In  his  second  letter  written  to  the  Deutsches 
Museum  and  dated  August  24,  1768,  but  strangely  not  printed 
till  April,  1777,"  he  quotes  Garrick  with  reference  to  Sterne,  a 
notable  word  of  personal  censure,  coming  in  the  Germany  of 
that  decade,  when  Yorick's  admirers  were  most  vehement  in 
their  claims.  Garrick  called  him  "a  lewd  companion,  who  was 
more  loose  in  his  intercourse  than  in  his  writings  and  generally 
drove  all  ladies  away  by  his  obscenities."^  Sturz  adds  that  all 
his  acquaintances  asserted  that  Sterne's  moral  character  went 
through  a  process  of  disintegration  in  London. 

In  the  Deutsches  Museum  for  July,  1776,  Sturz  printed  a 
poem  entitled  "Die  Mode,"  in  which  he  treats  of  the  slavery  of 

^  These  dates  are   of  the   departure    from   and   return   to   Copenhagen;   the   actual 
time  of  residence  in  foreign  lands  would  fall  somewhat  short  of  this  period. 

-Deutsches   Museum,    1777,   p.    449,   or   Schriften,    I,    pp.    12-13;    "Bibliothek   der 
deutschen  Klassiker,"  Vol.  VI,  p.  652. 

^  English    writers   who   have   endeavored   to   make   an   estimate    of    Sterne's   char- 
acter  have    ignored   this  part   of   Garrick's   opinion,   though   his   statement    with    ref- 
erence to   the  degeneration  of  Sterne's  moral  nature   is   frequently  quoted. 
11 


162 

fashion   and   in   several   stanzas   deprecates   the   influence   of 
Yorick.^ 

"Und  so  schwingt  sich,  zum  Genie  erklart, 
Strephon  kiihn  auf  Yorick's  Steckenpferd. 
Trabt  maandrisch  iiber  Berg  und  Auen, 
Reist  empfindsam  durch  sein  Dorfgebiet, 
Oder  singt  die  Jugend  zu  erbauen 
Ganz  Gefiihl  dem  Gartengott  ein  Lied. 
Gott  der  Garten,  stohnt  die  Biirgerin, 
Lachle  giitig,  Rasen  und  Schasmin 
Haucht  Geriiche  !     Fliehet  Handlungssorgen, 
Dass  mein  Liebster  heute  noch  in  Ruh 
Sein  Mark-Einsaz-Lomber  spiele — Morgen, 
Schliessen  wir  die  Ungliicksbude  zu  !" 
A  passage  at  the  end  of  the  appendix  to  the  twelfth  Reisebrief 
is  further  indication  of  his  opposition  to  and  his  contempt  for 
the  frenzy  of  German  sentimentalism. 

The  poems  of  Goeckingk  contain  allusions^  to  Sterne,  to  be 
sure  partly  indistinctive  and  insignificant,  which,  however, 
tend  in  the  main  to  a  ridicule  of  the  Yorick  cult  and  place  their 
author  ultimately  among  the  satirical  opponents  of  senti- 
mentalism. In  the  "Epistel  an  Goldhagen  in  Petershage," 
1 77 1,  he  writes: 

"Doch  geb  ich  wohl  zu  iiberlegen, 
Was  fiir  den  Weisen  besser  sey: 
Die  Welt  wie  Yorick  mit  zu  nehmen? 
Nach  Konigen,  wie  Diogen, 
Sich  keinen  Fuss  breit  zu  bequemen," — 
a  query  which  suggests  the  hesitant  point  of  view  relative  to 
the  advantage  of  Yorick's  excess  of  universal  sympathy.     In 
"Will  auch  'n  Genie  werden"  the  poet  steps  out  more  unmis- 
takably as  an  adversary  of  the  movement  and  as  a  skeptical 
observer  of  the  exercise  of  Yorick-like  sympathy. 
"Doch,  ich  Patronus,  merkt  das  wohl, 
Geh,  im  zerrissnen  Kittel, 
Hab'  aber  alle  Taschen  vol! 

Yorickischer  Capittel. 
Doch  lass'  ich,  wenn  mir's  Kurzweil  schaft, 
Die  Hiilfe  fleh'nden  Armen 
^   Durch  meinen  Schweitzer,  Peter  Kraft, 
Zerpriigeln  ohn'  Erbarmen." 

^  Deutsckes  Museum,  II,  pp.  601-604;  Schriften,  II,  pp.  288-291. 
^Gedichte  von  L.  F.  G.  Goeckingk,  3  Bde.,   1780,   1781,   1782,  Leipzig. 


163 

Goeckingk  openly  satirizes  the  sentimental  cult  in  the  poem 
"Der  Empfindsame" 

"Herr  Mops,  der  um  das  dritte  Wort 
Empfindsanikeit  im  Munde  fiihret, 
Und  wenn  ein  Grashalm  ihm  verdorrt, 
Gleich  einen  Thranenstrom  verlieret — 


Mit  nieinem  Weibchen  thut  er  schier 

Gleich  so  bekannt  wie  ein  Franzose; 

Air  Augenblicke  bot  er  ihr 

Toback  aus  eines  Bettlers  Dose 

Mit  dem,  am  Zaun  in  tiefem  Schlaf 

Er  einen  Tausch  wie  Yorik  traf. 

Der  Unempfindsamkeit  zum  Hohn 

Hielt  er  auf  eine  Miick'  im  Glase 

Beweglich  einen  Leichsermon, 

Purrt'  eine  Flieg'  ihm  an  der  Nase, 

Macht'  er  das  Fenster  auf,  und  sprach: 

Zieh  Oheim  Toby's  Fliege  nach ! 

Durch  Mops  ist  warlich  meine  Magd 

Nicht  mehr  bey  Trost,  nicht  mehr  bey  Sinnen 

So  sehr  hat  ihr  sein  Lob  behagt, 

Dass  sie  empfindsam  alien  Spinnen 

Zu  meinem  Hause,  frank  und  frey 

Verstattet  ihre  Weberey. 

Er  trat  mein  Hiindchen  auf  das  Bein, 

Hilf  Himmel !  Welch'  ein  Lamentiren ! 

Es  hatte  mogen  einen  Stein 

Der  Strasse  zum  Erbarmen  riihren, 

Auch  wedelt'  ihm  in  einem  Nu 

Das  Hiindgen  schon  Vergebung  zu. 

Ach !  Hiindchen,  du  beschamst  mich  sehr, 

Denn  dass  mir  Mops  von  meinem  Leben 

Drey  Stunden  stahl,  wie  schwer,  wie  schwer, 

Wird's  halten,  das  ihm  zu  vergeben? 

Denn  Spinnen  werden  oben  ein 

Wohl  gar  noch  meine  Morder  seyn." 

This  poem  is  a  rather  successful  bit  of  ridicule  cast  on  the 
over-sentimental  who  sought  to  follow  Yorick's  foot-prints. 

The  other  allusions  to  Sterne^  are  concerned  with  his  hobby- 
horse idea,  for  this  seems  to  gain  the  poet's  approbation  and  to 
have  no  share  in  his  censure. 

*  I,  pp.  94,  ii6,  160. 


164 

The  dangers  of  overwrought  sentimentality,  of  heedless  sur- 
render to  the  emotions  and  reveling  in  their  exercise, — perils 
to  whose  magnitude  Sterne  so  largely  contributed — were 
grasped  by  saner  minds,  and  energetic  protest  was  entered 
against  such  degradation  of  mind  and  futile  expenditure  of 
feeling. 

Joachim  Heinrich  Campe,  the  pedagogical  theorist,  pub- 
lished in  1779^  a  brochure,  *'Ueber  Empfindsamkeit  und  Emp- 
findelei  in  padagogischer  Hinsicht,"  in  which  he  deprecates  the 
tendency  of  "Empfindsamkeit"  to  degenerate  into  "Emp- 
findelei,"  and  explains  at  some  length  the  deleterious  effects  of 
an  unbridled  "Empfindsamkeit"  and  an  unrestrained  outpour- 
ing of  sympathetic  emotions  which  finds  no  actual  expression, 
no  relief  in  deeds.  The  substance  of  this  warning  essay  is  re- 
peated, often  word  for  word,  but  considerably  amplified  with 
new  material,  and  rendered  more  convincing  by  increased 
breadth  of  outlook  and  positiveness  of  assertion,  the  fruit  of 
six  years  of  observation  and  reflection,  as  part  of  a  treatise,  en- 
titled, "Von  der  nothigen  Sorge  fiir  die  Erhaltung  des  Gleich- 
gewichts  unter  den  menschlichen  Kraften:  Besondere  War- 
nung  vor  dem  Modefehler  die  Empfindsamkeit  zu  iiberspan- 
nen."  It  is  in  the  third  volume  of  the  "Allgemeine  Revision 
des  gesammten  Schul-  und  Erziehungswesens."^  The  differ- 
entiation between  "Empfindsamkeit"  and  "Empfindelei"  is 
again  and  more  accessibly  repeated  in  Campe's  later  work, 
"Ueber  die  Reinigung  und  Bereicherung  der  deutschen 
Sprache."^  In  the  second  form  of  this  essay  (1785)  Campe 
speaks  of  the  sentimental  fever  as  an  epidemic  by  no  means 
entirely  cured. 

His  analysis  of  "Empfindsamkeit"  is  briefly  as  follows : 
"Empfindsamkeit  ist  die  Empfanglichkeit  zu  Empfindnissen,  in 
denen  etwas  Sittliches  d.  i.  Freude  oder  Schmerz  iiber  etwas 
sittlich  Gutes  oder  sittlich  Boses,  ist ;"  yet  in  common  use  the 
term  is  applied  only  to  a  certain  high  degree  of  such  suscep- 
tibility. This  sensitiveness  is  either  in  harmony  or  discord 
with  the  other  powers  of  the  body,  especially  with  the  reason : 

^  Hamburg,  pp.  44. 

2  Hamburg,  Bohn,  1785. 

'Published  in   improved  and  amplified   form,   Braunschweig,    1794. 


165 

if  equilibrium  is  maintained,  this  sensitiveness  is  a  fair,  worthy, 
beneficent  capacity  (Fahigkeit)  ;  if  exalted  over  other  forces, 
it  becomes  to  the  individual  and  to  society  the  most  de- 
structive and  baneful  gift  which  refinement  and  culture  may 
bestow.  Campe  proposes  to  limit  the  use  of  the  word  "Emp- 
findsamkeit"  to  the  justly  proportioned  manifestation  of  this 
susceptibility;  the  irrational,  exaggerated  development  he 
would  designate  "iiberspannte  Empfindsamkeit."  "Empfinde- 
lei,"  he  says,  "ist  Empfindsamkeit,  die  sich  auf  eine  kleinliche 
alberne,  vernunftlose  und  lacherliche  Weise,  also  da  aussert, 
wo  sie  nicht  hingehorte."  Campe  goes  yet  further  in  his  dis- 
tinctions and  invents  the  monstrous  word,  "Empfindsamlich- 
keit"  for  the  sentimentality  which  is  superficial,  afifected,  sham 
(geheuchelte).  Campe's  newly  coined  word  was  never  ac- 
cepted, and  in  spite  of  his  own  efforts  and  those  of  others  to 
honor  the  word  "Empfindsamkeit"  and  restrict  it  to  the  com- 
mendable exercise  of  human  sympathy,  the  opposite  process 
was  victorious  and  "Empfindsamkeit,"  maligned  and  scorned, 
came  to  mean  almost  exclusively,  unless  distinctly  modified, 
both  what  Campe  designates  as  "iiberspannte  Empfindsam- 
keit" and  "Empfindelei,"  and  also  the  absurd  hypocrisy  of  the 
emotions  which  he  seeks  to  cover  with  his  new  word.  Campe's 
farther  consideration  contains  a  synopsis  of  method  for  distin- 
guishing "Empfindsamkeit"  from  "Empfindelei :"  in  the  first 
place  through  the  manner  of  their  incitement, — the  former  is 
natural,  the  latter  is  fantastic,  working  without  sense  of  the 
natural  properties  of  things.  In  this  connection  he  instances 
as  examples,  Yorick's  feeling  of  shame  after  his  heartless  and 
wilful  treatment  of  Father  Lorenzo,  and,  in  contrast  with  this, 
the  shallowness  of  Sterne's  imitators  who  whimpered  over  the 
death  of  a  violet,  and  stretched  out  their  arms  and  threw  kisses 
to  the  moon  and  stars.  In  the  second  place  they  are  dis- 
tinguished in  the  manner  of  their  expression :  "Empfindsam- 
keit" is  "secret,  unpretentious,  laconic  and  serious ;"  the  latter 
attracts  attention,  is  theatrical,  voluble,  whining,  vain. 
Thirdly,  they  are  known  by  their  fruits,  in  the  one  case  by 
deeds,  in  the  other  by  shallow  pretension.     In  the  latter  part 


166 

of  his  volume,  Campe  treats  the  problem  of  preventing  the 
perverted  form  of  sensibility  by  educative  endeavor. 

The  word  "Empfindsamkeit"  was  afterwards  used  some- 
times simply  as  an  equivalent  of  "Empfindung,"  or  sensation, 
without  implication  of  the  manner  of  sensing :  for  example 
one  finds  in  the  Morgenblatt^  a  poem  named  "Enpfindsam- 
keiten  am  Rheinfalle  vom  Felsen  der  Galerie  abgeschrieben." 
In  the  poem  various  travelers  are  made  to  express  their 
thoughts  in  view  of  the  waterfall.  A  poet  croes,  "Ye  gods, 
what  a  hell  of  waters ;"  a  tradesman,  "away  with  the  rock ;"  a 
Briton  complains  of  the  "confounded  noise,"  and  so  on.  It  is 
plain  that  the  word  suffered  a  generalization  of  meaning. 

A  poetical  expression  of  Campe's  main  message  is  found  in 
a  book  called  "Winterzeitvertreib  eines  koniglichen  preus- 
sischen  Offiziers."^  A  poem  entitled  "Das  empfindsame  Herz" 
(p.  210)  has  the  following  lines: 

"Freund,  ein  empfindsames  Herz  ist  nicht  fiir  diese  Welt, 
Von  Schelmen  wird's  verlacht,  von  Thoren  wirds  geprellt, 
Doch  lib'  im  Stillen  das,  was  seine  Stimme  spricht. 
Dein  Lohn  ist  dir  gewiss,  nur  hier  auf  Erden  nicht." 

In  a  similar  vein  of  protest  is  the  letter  of  G.  Hartmann^  to 
Denis,  dated  Tubingen,  February  10,  1773,  in  which  the  writer 
condemns  the  affected  sentimentalism  of  Jacobi  and  others  as 
damaging  to  morals.  "O  best  teacher,"  he  pleads  with  Denis, 
"continue  to  represent  these  performances  as  unworthy." 

Moser  in  his  "Patriotische  Phantasien"^  represents  himself 
as  replying  to  a  maid-in-waiting  who  writes  in  distress  about 
her  young  mistress,  because  the  latter  is  suffering  from 
"epidemic"  sentimentalism,  and  is  absurdly  unreasonable  in 
her  practical  incapacity  and  her  surrender  to  her  feelings. 
Moser's  sound  advice  is  the  substitution  of  genuine  emotion. 
The  whole  section  is  entitled  "Fiir  die  Empfindsamen." 

Knigge,  in  his  "Umgang  mit  Menschen,"  plainly  has  those 
Germans  in  mind  who  saw  in  Uncle  Toby's  treatment  of  the 

^11,  Nr.  204,  August  25,  1808,  Tubingen. 
^  Breslau,   1779,  2d  edition,  1780,  by  A.  W.  L.  von  Rahmel. 

'  See  M.  Denis,  "Literarischer  Nachlass,"  edited  by  Retzer,  Wien,  1801,  II, 
p.   196. 

♦"Sammtliche  Werke,"  edited  by  B.   R.  Abeken,  Berlin,   1858,  III,  pp.  61-64. 


167 

fly  an  incentive  to  unreasonable  emphasis  upon  the  relations 
between  man  and  the  animal  world,  when,  in  the  chapter  on 
the  treatment  of  animals,  he  protests  against  the  silly,  child- 
ish enthusiasm  of  those  who  cannot  see  a  hen  killed,  but  par- 
take of  fowl  greedily  on  the  table,  or  who  passionately  open 
the  window  for  a  fly.^  A  work  was  also  translated  from  the 
French  of  Mistelet,  which  dealt  with  the  problem  of  "Emp- 
findsamkeit:"  it  was  entitled  "Ueber  die  Empfindsamkeit  in 
Riicksicht  auf  das  Drama,  die  Romane  und  die  Erziehung."^ 
An  article  condemning  exaggerated  sentimentality  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Deutschcs  Museum  for  February,  1783,  under  the 
title  "Etwas  iiber  deutsche  Empfindsamkeit." 

Goethe's  "Der  Triumph  der  Empfindsamkeit"  is  a  merry 
satire  on  the  sentimental  movement,  but  is  not  to  be  connected 
directly  with  Sterne,  since  Goethe  is  more  particularly  con- 
cerned with  the  petty  imitators  of  his  own  "Werther."  Baum- 
gartner  in  his  Life  of  Goethe  asserts  that  Sterne's  Sentimental 
Journey  was  one  of  the  books  found  inside  the  ridiculous  doll 
which  the  love-sick  Prince  Oronaro  took  about  with  him.  This 
is  not  a  necessary  interpretation,  for  Andrason,  when  he  took 
up  the  first  book,  exclaimed  merely  "Empfindsamkeiten,"  and, 
as  Strehlke  observes,^  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  think  of  a 
single  work,  because  the  term  was  probably  used  in  a  general 
way,  referring  possibly  to  a  number  of  then  popular  imitations. 

The  satires  on  "Empfindsamkeit"  began  to  grow  numerous 
at  the  end  of  the  seventies  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighties,  so 
that  the  AUgemeinc  Litteratur-Zeitung,  in  October.  1785,  feels 
justified  in  remarking  that  such  attempts  are  gradually  grow- 
ing as  numerous  as  the  "Empfindsame  Romane"  themselves, 
and  wishes,  "so  may  they  rot  together  in  a  grave  of  oblivion."* 

^  First  American  edition  as  "Practical  Philosophy,"  Lansingburgh,  1805,  p.  331, 
Sterne  is  cited  on  p.  85. 

*  Altenburg,  1778,  p.  90.  Reviewed  in  Gothaische  Gelehrte  Zeitungen,  1779,  p. 
169,  March  17,  and  in  Allg.  deutsche  Bibl.,  XXXVII,  2,  p.  476. 

^Hempel,  VIII,  p.  354. 

*  In  a  review  of  "Mamsell  Fieckchen  und  ihr  Vielgetreuer,  ein  Erbauungs- 
buchlein  fur  gefiihlvolle  Madchen,"  which  is  intended  to  be  a  warning  to 
tender-hearted  maidens  against  the  sentimental  mask  of  young  officers.  Another 
protest  against  excess  of  sentimentalism  was  "Philotas,  ein  Versuch  zur  Beruhi- 
gung  und  Belehrung  fiir  Leidende  und  Freunde  der  Leidenden,"  Leipzig,  1779. 
See  Allg.  deutsche.  Bibl.,  XLIV.  i,  pp.  128-9. 


168 

Anton  Reiser,  the  hero  of  Karl  PhiHpp  Moritz's  autobiograph- 
ical novel  (Berlin,  1785-90),  begins  a  satire  on  affected  senti- 
mentalism,  which  was  to  bring  shafts  of  ridicule  to  bear  on  the 
popular  sham,  and  to  throw  appreciative  light  on  the  real  man- 
ifestation of  genuine  feeling.^  A  kindred  satire  was  "Die 
Geschichte  eines  Genies,"  Leipzig,  1780,  two  volumes,  in  which 
the  prevailing  fashion  of  digression  is  incidentally  satirized.^ 

The  most  extensive  satire  on  the  sentimental  movement,  and 
most  vehement  protest  against  its  excesses  is  the  four  volume 
novel,  "Der  Empfindsame,"^  published  anonymously  in  Erfurt, 
1781-3,  but  acknowledged  in  the  introduction  to  the  fourth 
volume  by  its  author.  Christian  Friedrich  Timme.  He  had 
already  published  one  novel  in  which  he  exemplified  in  some 
measure  characteristics  of  the  novelists  whom  he  later  sought 
to  condemn  and  satirize,  that  is,  this  first  novel,  "Faramond's 
Familiengeschichte,"'*  is  digressive  and  episodical,  "Der  Emp- 
findsame"  is  much  too  bulky  to  be  really  efifective  as  a  satire ; 
the  reiteration  of  satirical  jibes,  the  repetition  of  satirical 
motifs  slightly  varied,  or  thinly  veiled,  recoil  upon  the  force  of 
the  work  itself  and  injure  the  effect.  The  maintenance  of  a 
single  satire  through  the  thirteen  to  fourteen  hundred  pages 
which  four  such  volumes  contain  is  a  Herculean  task  which  we 
can  associate  only  with  a  genius  like  Cervantes.  Then,  too, 
Timme  is  an  excellent  narrator,  and  his  original  purpose  is 
constantly  obscured  by  his  own  interest  and  the  reader's  inter- 
est in  Timme's  own  story,  in  his  original  creations,  in  the 
variety  of  his  characters.  These  obtrude  upon  the  original 
aim  of  the  book  and  absorb  the  action  of  the  story  in  such  a 
measure  that  Timme  often  for  whole  chapters  and  sections 
seems  to  forget  entirely  the  convention  of  his  outsetting. 

His  attack  is  threefold,  the  centers  of  his  opposition  being 
"Werther,"  "Siegwart"  and  Sterne,  as  represented  by  their  fol- 

^  See   Erich   Schmidt's   "Richardson,   Rousseau  und   Goethe,"   Jena,    1875,   p.    297. 

-See  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gel.  Saclicn,  1780,  pp.  627,  761. 

^  The  full  title  is  "Der  Empfindsame  Maurus  Pankrazius  Ziprianus  Kurt  auch 
Selmar  genannt,  ein  Moderoman,"  published  by  Keyser  at  Erfurt,  1781-83,  with 
a  second  edition,   1785-87. 

*  "Faramonds  Familiengeschichte,  in  Briefen,"  Erfurt,  Keyser,  1779-81.  Allg. 
deutsche  Bibl.,  XLIV,  i,  p.  120;  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  Gel.  Sachen,  1780,  pp. 
273>  332;   1781,  pp.   113,  314. 


169 

lowers  and  imitators.  But  the  campaign  is  so  simple,  and  the 
satirist  has  been  to  such  trouble  to  label  with  care  the  direction 
of  his  own  blows,  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  separate  the  thrusts 
intended  for  each  of  his  foes. 

Timme's  initial  purpose  is  easily  illustrated  by  reference  to 
his  first  chapter,  where  his  point  of  view  is  compactly  put  and 
the  soundness  of  his  critical  judgment  and  the  forcefulness  of 
his  satirical  bent  are  unequivocally  demonstrated :  This  chap- 
ter, which,  as  he  says,  "may  serve  instead  of  preface  and  intro- 
duction," is  really  both,  for  the  narrative  really  begins  only  in 
the  second  chapter.  "Every  nation,  every  age,"  he  says,  "has 
its  own  doll  as  a  plaything  for  its  children,  and  sentimentality 
(Empfindsamkeit)  is  ours."  Then  with  lightness  and  grace, 
coupled  with  unquestionable  critical  acumen,  he  traces  briefly 
the  growth  of  "Empfindsamkeit"  in  Germany.  "Kaum  war 
der  liebenswiirdige  Sterne  auf  sein  Steckenpferd  gestiegen, 
und  hatte  es  uns  vorgeritten ;  so  versammelten  sich  wie  ge- 
wohnlich  in  Teutschland  alle  Jungen  an  ihn  herum,  hingen 
sich  an  ihn,  oder  schnizten  sich  sein  Steckenpferd  in  der  Ge- 
schwindigkeit  nach,  oder  brachen  Stecken  vom  nachsten  Zaun 
oder  rissen  aus  einem  Reissigbiindel  den  ersten  besten  Priigel, 
setzten  sich  darauf  und  ritten  mit  einer  solchen  Wut  hinter  ihm 
drein,  dass  sie  einen  Luftwirbel  veranlassten,  der  alles,  was  ihm 
zu  nahe  kam,  wie  ein  reissender  Strom  mit  sich  fortris,  war  es 
nur  unter  den  Jungen  geblieben,  so  hatte  es  noch  sein  mogen ; 
aber  ungliicklicherweise  fanden  auch  Manner  Geschmack  an 
dem  artigen  Spielchen,  sprangen  vom  ihrem  Weg  ab  und  ritten 
mit  Stok  und  Degen  und  Amtsperiiken  unter  den  Knaben 
einher."  Freilich  erreichte  keiner  seinen  Meister,  den  sie  sehr 
bald  aus  dem  Gesicht  verloren,  und  nun  die  possirlichsten 
Spriinge  von  der  Welt  machen  und  doch  bildet  sich  jeder  der 
Affen  ein,  er  reite  so  schon  wie  der  Yorick."^ 

This  lively  description  of  Sterne's  part  in  this  uprising  is, 
perhaps,  the  best  brief  characterization  of  the  phenomenon 
and  is  all  the  more  significant  as  coming  from  the  pen  of  a 
contemporary,  and  written  only  about  a  decade  after  the  in- 
ception   of    the    sentimental    movement    as    influenced    and 

iPp.  8-9. 


170 

furthered  by  the  translation  of  the  Sentimental  Journey.  It 
represents  a  remarkable  critical  insight  into  contemporaneous 
literary  movements,  the  rarest  of  all  critical  gifts,  but  it  has 
been  overlooked  by  investigators  who  have  sought  and  bor- 
rowed brief  words  to  characterize  the  epoch. ^ 

The  contribution  of  "Werther"  and  "Siegwart"  to  the  sen- 
timental frenzy  are  even  as  succinctly  and  graphically  desig- 
nated ;  the  latter  book,  published  in  1776,  is  held  responsible  for 
a  recrudescence  of  the  phenomenon,  because  it  gave  a  new  di- 
rection, a  new  tone  to  the  faltering  outbursts  of  Sterne's  fol- 
lowers and  indicated  a  more  comprehensible  and  hence  more 
efficient,  outlet  for  their  sentimentalism.  Now  again,  "every 
nook  resounded  with  the  whining  sentimentality,  with  sighs, 
kisses,  forget-me-nots,  moonshine,  tears  and  ecstasies ;"  those 
hearts  excited  by  Yorick's  gospel,  gropingly  endeavoring  to 
find  an  outlet  for  their  own  emotions  which,  in  their  opinion 
were  characteristic  of  their  arouser  and  stimulator,  found 
through  "Siegwart"  a  solution  of  their  problem,  a  reHef  for 
their  emotional  excess. 

Timme  insists  that  his  attack  is  only  on  Yorick's  mistaken 
followers  and  not  on  Sterne  himself.  He  contrasts  the  man 
and  his  imitators  at  the  outset  sharply  by  comments  on  a  quo- 
tation from  the  novel,  "Fragmente  zur  Geschichte  der  Zartlich- 
keit"^  as  typifying  the  outcry  of  these  petty  imitators  against 
the  heartlessness  of  their  misunderstanding  critics, — "Sanfter, 
dultender  Yorick,"  he  cries,  "das  war  nicht  deine  Sprache! 
Du  priesest  dich  nicht  mit  einer  pharisaischen  Selbstgeniig- 
samkeit  und  schimpftest  nicht  auf  die.  die  dir  nicht  ahnlich 
waren,  'Doch!  sprachst  Du  am  Grabe  Lorenzos,  doch  ich  bin 
so  weichherzig  wie  ein  Weib,  aber  ich  bitte  die  Welt  nicht  zu 
lachen,  sondern  mich  zu  bedauern!  Ruhe  dienem  Staube, 
sanfter,  liebevoller  Dulter !  und  nur  einen  Funken  deines  Geis- 
tes  deinen  Affen."^     He  writes  not   for  the  "gentle,  tender 

^  Goethe's  review  of  Schummers  "Empfindsame  Reise"  in  Frankfurter  Gel.  Ans. 
represents  the  high-water  mark  of  understanding  criticism  relative  to  individual 
work,  but  represents  necessarily  no  grasp  of  the  whole  movement. 

2  Frankfurt,  1778,  Allg.  deutsche  BibL.  XL,  i,  119.  This  is  by  Baker  incor- 
rectly ascribed  J.  F.  Abel,  the  author  of  "Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  der  Liebe,"   1778. 

^P.   15. 


171 

souls  on  whom  the  spirit  of  Yorick  rests,"^  for  those  whose 
feelings  are  easily  aroused  and  who  make  quick  emotional  re- 
turn, who  love  and  do  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the  noble ;  but 
for  those  who  "bei  dem  wonnigen  Wehen  und  Anhauchen  der 
Gottheithaltenden  Natur,  in  huldigem  Liebessinn  und  himmel- 
siissem  Frohsein  dahin  schmelzt  .  .  die  ihr  vom  Sang  der 
Liebe,  von  Mondschein  und  Tranen  euch  nahrt,"  etc.,  etc.^ 
In  these  few  words  he  discriminates  between  the  man  and 
his  influence,  and  outlines  his  intentions  to  satirize  and  chas- 
tise the  insidious  disease  which  had  fastened  itself  upon  the 
literature  of  the  time.  This  passage,  with  its  implied  sincer- 
ity of  appreciation  for  the  real  Yorick,  is  typical  of  Timme's 
attitude  throughout  the  book,  and  his  concern  lest  he  should 
appear  at  any  time  to  draw  the  English  novelist  into  his  con- 
demnation leads  him  to  reiterate  this  statement  of  purpose  and 
to  insist  upon  the  contrast. 

Briikmann,  a  young  theological  student,  for  a  time  an  inti- 
mate of  the  Kurt  home,  is  evidently  intended  to  represent  the 
soberer,  well-balanced  thought  of  the  time  in  opposition  to  the 
feverish  sentimental  frenzy  of  the  Kurt  household.  He  makes 
an  exception  of  Yorick  in  his  condemnation  of  the  literary 
favorites,  the  popular  novelists  of  that  day,  but  he  deplores  the 
effects  of  misunderstood  imitation  of  Yorick's  work,  and 
argues  his  case  with  vehemence  against  this  sentimental  group.^ 
Briikmann  differentiates  too  the  different  kinds  of  sentimental- 
ism  and  their  effects  in  much  the  same  fashion  as  Campe  in  his 
treatise  published  two  years  before.*  In  all  this  Briikmann 
may  be  regarded  as  the  mouth-piece  of  the  author.  The  clever 
daughter  of  the  gentleman  who  entertains  Pank  at  his  home 
reads  a  satirical  poem  on  the  then  popular  literature,  but  ex- 
pressly disclaims  any  attack  on  Yorick  or  "Siegwart,"  and 
asserts  that  her  bitterness  is  intended  for  their  imitators. 
Lotte,     Pank's     sensible    and     unsentimental,    long-suffering 

^p.  17. 
2  p.  18. 

« I,  pp.  313  ff. 

*  This  distinction  between  Empfindsamkeit  and  Empfindelei  is  further  given 
II,  p.   180. 


172 

fiancee,  makes  further  comment  on  the  "apes"  of  Yorick, 
"Werther,"  and  "Siegwart." 

The  unfolding  of  the  story  is  at  the  beginning  closely  sug- 
gestive of  Tristram  Shandy  and  is  evidently  intended  to  fol- 
low the  Sterne  novel  in  a  measure  as  a  model.  As  has  already 
been  suggested,  Timme's  own  narrative  powers  balk  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  satire,  but  aid  the  interest  and  the  movement  of 
the  story.  The  movement  later  is,  in  large  measure,  simple 
and  direct.  The  hero  is  first  introduced  at  his  christening, 
and  the  discussion  of  fitting  uames  in  the  imposing  family 
council  is  taken  from  Walter  Shandy's  hobby.  The  narrative 
here,  in  Sterne  fashion,  is  interrupted  by  a  Shandean  digres- 
sion^ concerning  the  influence  of  clergymen's  collars  and  neck- 
bands upon  the  thoughts  and  minds  of  their  audiences.  Such 
questions  of  chance  influence  of  trifles  upon  the  greater  events 
of  life  is  a  constant  theme  of  speculation  among  the  prag- 
matics ;  no  petty  detail  is  overlooked  in  the  possibility  of  its 
portentous  consequences.  Walter  Shandy's  hyperbolic  philos- 
ophy turned  about  such  a  focus,  the  exaltation  of  insignificant 
trifles  into  mainsprings  of  action.  Shandy  bristles  with  such 
discussions. 

In  Shandy  fashion  the  story  doubles  on  itself  after  the  in- 
troduction and  gives  minute  details  of  young  Kurt's  family 
and  the  circumstances  prior  to  his  birth.  The  later  discus- 
sion^ in  the  family  council  concerning  the  necessary  qualities 
in  the  tutor  to  be  hired  for  the  young  Kurt  is  distinctly  a  bor- 
rowing from  Shandy.^  Timme  imitates  Sterne's  method  of 
ridiculing  pedantry ;  the  requirements  listed  by  the  Diaconus 
and  the  professor  are  touches  of  Walter  Shandy's  misapplied, 
warped,  and  undigested  wisdom.  In  the  nineteenth  chapter 
of  the  third  volume*  we  find  a  Sterne  passage  associating  itself 
with  Shandy  rather  more  than  the  Sentimental  Journey.  It 
is  a  playful  thrust  at  a  score  of  places  in  Shandy  in  which 
ttie  author  converses  with  the  reader  about  the  progress  of  the 
book,  and  allows  the  mechanism  of  book-printing  and  the  va- 

^  Pp-    33-39- 

2  1,  pp.   88   ff. 

^  See   discussion   concerning  Tristram's   tutor,   Tristram   Shandy,    II,   p.    217. 

*  III,  pp.   318  ff. 


173 

garies  of  publishers  to  obtrude  themselves  upon  the  relation 
between  writer  and  reader.  As  a  reminiscence  of  similar 
promises  frequent  in  Shandy,  the  author  promises  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  fourth  volume  to  write  a  book  with  an  eccentric 
title  dealing  with  a  list  of  absurdities.^ 

But  by  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the  allusions  to  Sterne 
associate  themselves  with  the  Sentimental  Journey.  A  for- 
mer acquaintance  of  Frau  Kurt,  whose  favorite  reading  was 
Shandy,  Wieland's  "Sympatien"  and  the  Sentimental  Journey, 
serves  to  satirize  the  influence  of  Yorick's  ass  episode ;  this 
gentleman  wept  at  the  sight  of  an  ox  at  work,  and  never  ate 
meat  lest  he  might  incur  the  guilt  of  the  murder  of  these 
sighing  creatures. - 

The  most  constantly  recurring  form  of  satire  is  that  of  con- 
tradiction between  the  sentimental  expression  of  elevated,  uni- 
versal sympathy  and  broader  humanity  and  the  failure  to  seize 
an  immediately  presented  opportunity  to  embody  desire  in  deed. 
Thus  Frau  Kurt,^  buried  in  "Siegwart,"  refuses  persistently  to 
be  disturbed  by  those  in  immediate  need  of  a  succoring  hand. 
Pankraz  and  his  mother  while  on  a  drive  discover  an  old  man 
weeping  inconsolably  over  the  death  of  his  dog.*  The  scene 
of  the  dead  ass  at  Nampont  occurs  at  once  to  Madame  Kurt 
and  she  compares  the  sentimental  content  of  these  two  ex- 
periences in  deprivation,  finding  the  palm  of  sympathy  due  to 
the  melancholy  dog-bewailer  before  her,  thereby  exalting  the 
sentimental  privilege  of  her  own  experience  as  a  witness. 
Quoting  Yorick,  she  cries :  "Shame  on  the  world !  If  men  only 
loved  one  another  as  this  man  loves  his  dog!"^  At  this  very 
moment  the  reality  of  her  sympathy  is  put  to  the  test  by  the 
approach  of  a  wretched  woman  bearing  a  wretched  child,  beg- 
ging for  assistance,  but  Frau  Kurt,  steeped  in  the  delight  of 
her  sympathetic  emotion,   repulses  her   rudely.     Pankraz,   on 

^  Vol.  IV,  p.  12.  "Zoologica  humana,"  and  treating  of  Affen,  Gekken,  Nar- 
ren,  Schelmen,  Schurken,  Heuchlern,  Schlangen,  Schafen,  Schweinen,  Ochsen  und 
Eseln. 

-  I,   P-    72. 

^  I,    pp.    225    ff- 

*  I,  pp.  245  ff- 

'  A  substitution  merely  of  another  animal  for  the  passage  in  "Empfindsame 
Reise,"  Bode's  translation,  edition  of  1769   (2d  ed.),  I,  p.  109. 


174 

going  home,  takes  his  Yorick  and  reads  again  the  chapter  con- 
taining the  dead-ass  episode ;  he  spends  much  time  in  determin- 
ing which  event  was  the  more  affecting,  and  tears  flow  at  the 
thought  of  both  animals.  In  the  midst  of  his  vehement  curses 
on  "unempfindsame  Menschen,"  "a  curse  upon  you,  you  hard- 
hearted monsters,  who  treat  God's  creatures  unkindly,"  etc., 
he  rebukes  the  gentle  advances  of  his  pet  cat  Riepel,  rebuffs 
her  for  disturbing  his  "Wonnegefiihl,"  in  such  a  heartless  and 
cruel  way  that,  through  an  accident  in  his  rapt  delight  at  hu- 
man sympathy,  the  ultimate  result  is  the  poor  creature's  death 
by  his  own  fault. 

In  the  second  volume^  Timme  repeats  this  method  of  satire, 
varying  conditions  only,  yet  forcing  the  matter  forward,  ulti- 
mately, into  the  grotesque  comic,  but  again  taking  his  cue  from 
Yorick's  narrative  about  the  ass  at  Nampont,  acknowledging 
specifically  his  linking  of  the  adventure  of  Madame  Kurt  to 
the  episode  in  the  Sentimental  Journey.  Frau  Kurt's  ardent 
sympathy  is  aroused  for  a  goat  drawing  a  wagon,  and  driven 
by  a  peasant.  She  endeavors  to  interpret  the  sighs  of  the  beast 
and  finally  insists  upon  the  release  of  the  animal,  which  she 
asserts  is  calling  to  her  for  aid.  The  poor  goat's  parting  bleat 
after  its  departing  owner  is  construed  as  a  curse  on  the  latter's 
hardheartedness.  Frau  Kurt  embraces  and  kisses  the  animal. 
During  the  whole  scene  the  nieghboring  village  is  in  flames, 
houses  are  consumed  and  poor  people  rendered  homeless,  but 
Frau  Kurt  expresses  no  concern,  even  regarding  the  catas- 
trophe as  a  merited  affliction,  because  of  the  villagers'  lack  of 
sympathy  with  their  domestic  animals.  The  same  means  of 
satire  is  again  employed  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  the  same 
volume.^  Pankraz,  overcome  with  pain  because  Lotte,  his  be- 
trothed, fails  to  unite  in  his  sentimental  enthusiasm  and  persists 
in  common-sense,  tries  to  bury  his  grief  in  a  wild  ride  through 
night  and  storm.  His  horse  tramples  ruthlessly  on  a  poor  old 
man  in  the  road ;  the  latter  cries  for  help,  but  Pank,  buried  in 
contemplation  of  Lotte's  lack  of  sensibility,  turns  a  deaf  ear 
to  the  appeal. 

1  pp.  241  ff. 

*  Vol.  II,  pp.  333  ff. 


175 

In  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  the  third  volume,  a  senti- 
mental journey  is  proposed,  and  most  of  the  fourth  volume  is 
an  account  of  this  undertaking  and  the  events  arising  from  its 
complications.  Pankraz's  adventures  are  largely  repetitions 
of  former  motifs,  and  illustrate  the  fate  indissolubly  linked 
with  an  imitation  of  Sterne's  related  converse  with  the  fair 
sex.^ 

The  journey  runs,  after  a  few  adventures,  over  into  an  elab- 
orate practical  joke  in  which  Pankraz  himself  is  burlesqued  by 
his  contemporaries.  Timme  carries  his  poignancy  and  keen- 
ness of  satire  over  into  bluntness  of  burlesque  blows  in  a  large 
part  of  these  closing  scenes.  Pankraz  loses  the  sympathy  of 
the  reader,  involuntarily  and  irresistibly  conceded  him,  and  be- 
comes an  inhuman  freak  of  absurdity,  beyond  our  interest.^ 

Pankraz  is  brought  into  disaster  by  his  slavish  following  of 
suggestions  aroused  through  fancied  parallels  between  his  own 
circumstances  and  those  related  of  Yorick.  He  finds  a  sor- 
rowing woman^  sitting,  like  Maria  of  Moulines,  beneath  a 
poplar  tree.  Pankraz  insists  upon  carrying  out  this  striking 
analogy  farther,  which  the  woman,  though  she  betrays  no 
knowledge  of  the  Sentimental  Journey,  is  not  loath  to  accede 
to,  as  it  coincides  with  her  own  nefarious  purposes.  Timme 
in  the  following  scene  strikes  a  blow  at  the  abjectly  sensual 
involved  in  much  of  the  then  sentimental,  unrecognized  and 
unrealized. 

Pankraz  meets  a  man  carrying  a  cage  of  monkeys.*  He 
buys  the  poor  creatures  from  their  master,  even  as  Frau  Kurt 
had  purchased  the  goat.  The  similarity  to  the  Starling  nar- 
rative in  Sterne's  volume  fills  Pankraz's  heart  with  glee.  The 
Starling  wanted  to  get  out  and  so  do  his  monkeys,  and  Pank- 
raz's only  questions  are:     "What  did  Yorick  do?"     "What 

*  See  the  record  of  Pankraz's  sentimental  interview  with  the  pastor's  wife. 

'  For  example,  see  Pankraz's  prayer  to  Riepel,  the  dead  cat,  when  he  learns  that 
another  has  done  more  than  he  in  raising  a  lordlier  monument  to  the  feline's 
virtues:  "Wenn  du  itz  in  der  Gesellschaft  reiner,  verklarter  Kazengeister,  Him- 
nen  miaust,  O  so  sieh  einen  Augenblick  auf  diese  Welt  herab!  Sieh  meinen 
Schmerz,  meine  Reue!"  His  sorrow  for  Riepel  is  likened  to  the  Nampont  pi 
grim's  grief  for  his  dead  ass. 

'  IV,  pp.  222-235. 

«  IV,  pp.  253  ff. 


176 

would  he  do?"  He  resolves  to  do  more  than  is  recorded  of 
Yorick,  release  the  prisoners  at  all  costs.  Yorick's  mono- 
log  occurs  to  him  and  he  parodies  it.  The  animals  greet  their 
release  in  the  thankless  way  natural  to  them, — a  point  already 
enforced  in  the  conduct  of  Frau  Kurt's  goat. 

In  the  last  chapter  of  the  third  volume  Sterne's  relationship 
to  "Eliza"  is  brought  into  the  narrative.  Pankraz  writes  a 
letter  wherein  he  declares  amid  exaggerated  expressions  of 
bliss  that  he  has  found  "Elisa,"  his  "Elisa."  This  is  significant 
as  showing  that  the  name  Eliza  needed  no  further  explanation, 
but,  from  the  popularity  of  the  Yorick-Eliza  letters  and  the 
wide-spread  admiration  of  the  relation,  the  name  Eliza  was 
accepted  as  a  type  of  that  peculiar  feminine  relation  which 
existed  between  Sterne  and  Mrs.  Draper,  and  which  appealed 
to  Sterne's  admirers. 

Pankraz's  new  Order  of  the  Garter,  born  of  his  wild  frenzy^ 
of  devotion  over  this  article  of  Elisa's  wearing  apparel,  is  an 
open  satire  on  Leuchsenring's  and  Jacobi's  silly  efforts  noted 
elsewhere.  The  garter  was  to  bear  Elisa's  silhouette  and  the 
device  "Orden  vom  Strumpfband  der  empfindsamen  Liebe." 

The  elaborate  division  of  moral  preachers^  into  classes  may 
be  further  mentioned  as  an  adaptation  from  Sterne,  cast  in 
Yorick's  mock-scientific  manner. 

A  consideration  of  these  instances  of  allusion  and  adapta- 
tion with  a  view  to  classification,  reveals  a  single  line  of  de- 
markation  obvious  and  unaltered.  And  this  line  divides  the 
references  to  Sterne's  sentimental  influence  from  those  to  his 
whimsicality  of  narration,  his  vagaries  of  thought;  that  is,  it 
follows  inevitably,  and  represents  precisely  the  two  aspects  of 
Sterne  as  an  individual,  and  as  an  innovator  in  the  world  of 
letters.  But  that  a  line  of  cleavage  is  further  equally  discern- 
ible in  the  treatment  of  these  two  aspects  is  not  to  be  over- 
looked. On  the  one  hand  is  the  exaggerated,  satirical,  bur- 
lesque ;  on  the  other  the  modified,  lightened,  softened.  And 
these  two  lines  of  division  coincide  precisely. 

^  IV,  pp.  113  ff.:  "Wenn  ich  so  denke,  wie  es  Elisen  bertihrt,  so  wird  mir 
schwindlich.  .  .  .  Ich  mochte  es  umschlingen  wie  es  Elisen's  Bein  umschlungen 
hat,  mogt  mich  ganz  verweben  mit  ihm,"  etc. 

2  IV,  pp.  214  ff. 


177 

The  slight  touches  of  whimsicality,  suggesting  Sterne,  are 
a  part  of  Timme's  own  narrative,  evidently  adapted  with  ap- 
proval and  appreciation ;  they  are  never  carried  to  excess, 
satirized  or  burlesqued,  but  may  be  regarded  as  purposely 
adopted,  as  a  result  of  admiration  and  presumably  as  a  sug- 
gestion to  the  possible  workings  of  sprightliness  and  grace  on 
the  heaviness  of  narrative  prose  at  that  time.  Timme,  as  a 
clear-sighted  contemporary,  certainly  confined  the  danger  of 
Sterne's  literary  influence  entirely  to  the  sentimental  side,  and 
saw  no  occasion  to  censure  an  importation  of  Sterne's  whim- 
sies. Panic's  ode  on  the  death  of  Riepel,  written  partly  in 
dashes  and  partly  in  exclamation  points,  is  not  a  disproof  of 
this  assertion.  Timme  is  not  satirizing  Sterne's  whimsical  use 
of  typographical  signs,  but  rather  the  Germans  who  misunder- 
stood Sterne  and  tried  to  read  a  very  peculiar  and  precious 
meaning  into  these  vagaries.  The  sentimental  is,  however, 
always  burlesqued  and  ridiculed ;  hence  the  satire  is  directed 
largely  against  the  Sentimental  Journey,  and  Shandy  is  fol- 
lowed mainly  in  those  sections,  which,  we  are  compelled  to 
believe,  he  wrote  for  his  own  pleasure,  and  in  which  he  was 
led  on  by  his  own  interest. 

The  satire  on  sentimentalism  is  purposeful,  the  imitation 
and  adaptation  of  the  whimsical  and  original  is  half-uncon- 
scious, and  bespeaks  admiration  and  commendation. 

Timme's  book  was  sufficiently  popular  to  demand  a  second 
edition,  but  it  never  received  the  critical  examination  its  merits 
deserved.  Wieland's  Tentscher  Merknr  and  the  Bibliothek 
der  schonen  Wissenschaften  ignore  it  completely.  The  Go- 
thaische  Gelehrte  Zeitungen  announces  the  book  in  its  issue  of 
August  2,  1780,  but  the  book  itself  is  not  reviewed  in  its  col- 
umns. The  Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gelehrten  Sachen  ac- 
cords it  a  colorless  and  unappreciative  review  in  which 
Timme  is  reproached  for  lack  of  order  in  his  work  (a  cen- 
sure more  applicable  to  the  first  volume),  and  further  for 
.  his  treatment  of  German  authors  then  popular.^  .  The  latter 
statement  stamps  the  review  as  unsympathetic  with  Timme's 

^  1781,   p.    573:     "Dass   er   einzelne    Stellen   aus   unsern   angesehensten    Schrift- 
stellern   heraus  rupfet   und  in  eine   lacherliche   Verbindung   bringt." 
12 


178  • 

satirical  purpose.  In  the  Erfurtische  gelehrte  Zeitung,^  in  the 
very  house  of  its  own  publication,  the  novel  is  treated  in  a 
long  review  which  "hesitates  between  an  acknowledged  lack  of 
comprehension  and  indignant  denunciation.  The  reviewer 
fears  that  the  author  is  a  "Pasquillant  oder  gar  ein  Indiffer- 
entist"  and  hopes  the  public  will  find  no  pleasure  (Geschmack) 
in  such  bitter  jesting  (Schnaken).  He  is  incensed  at  Timme's 
contention  that  the  Germans  were  then  degenerate  as  com- 
pared with  their  Teutonic  forefathers,  and  Timme's  attack  on 
the  popular  writers  is  emphatically  resented.  "Aber  nun 
kommt  das  Schlimme  erst,"  he  says,  "da  fiihrt  er  aus  Schriften 
unserer  grossten  Schenies,  aus  den  Lieblings-biichern  der 
Nazion,  aus  Werther's  Leiden,  dem  Siegwart,  den  Fragmenten 
zur  Geschichte  der  Zartlichkeit,  Miiller's  Freuden  und  Lei- 
den, Klinger's  Schriften  u.  s.  w.  zur  Bestatigung  seiner  Be- 
hauptung,  solche  Stellen  mit  solcher  Bosheit  an,  dass  man  in 
der  That  ganz  verzweifelt  wird,  ob  sie  von  einem  Schenie  oder 
von  einem  Affen  geschrieben  sind." 

In  the  number  for  July  6,  1782,  the  second  and  third  volumes 
are  reviewed.  Pity  is  expressed  for  the  poor  author,  "denn 
ich  fijrchte  es  wird  sich  ein  solches  Geschrey  wider  ihn  erhe- 
ben,  wovon  ihm  die  Ohren  gallen  werden."  Timme  wrote  re- 
views for  this  periodical,  and  the  general  tone  of  this  notice 
renders  it  not  improbable  that  he  roguishly  wrote  the  review 
himself  or  inspired  it,  as  a  kind  of  advertisement  for  the  novel 
itself.     It  is  certainly  a  challenge  to  the  opposing  party. 

The  AUgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek"^  alone  seems  to  grasp 
the  full  significance  of  the  satire.  "We  acknowledge  gladly," 
says  the  reviewer,  "that  the  author  has  with  accuracy  noted 
and  defined  the  rise,  development,  ever-increasing  contagion 
and  plague-like  prevalence  of  this  moral  pestilence ;  .  .  .  that 
the  author  has  penetrated  deep  into  the  knowledge  of  this  dis- 
ease and  its  causes."  He  wishes  for  an  engraving  of  the 
Sterne  hobby-horse  cavalcade  described  in  the  first  chapter, 
and  begs  for  a  second  and  third  volume,  "aus  deutscher  Vater- 
landsliebe."     Timme  is  called  "Our  German  Cervantes." 

1 1781,  pp.  265-7. 

2  LI,  I,  p.  234. 


179 

The  second  and  third  vohimes  are  reviewed^  with  a  brief 
word  of  continued  approbation. 

A  novel  not  dissimilar  in  general  purpose,  but  less  success- 
ful in  accomplishment,  is  Wezel's  "Wilhelmine  Arend,  oder 
die  Gefahren  der  Empfindsamkeit,"  Dessau  and  Leipzig,  1782, 
two  volumes.  The  book  is  more  earnest  in  its  conception.  Its 
author  says  in  the  preface  that  his  desire  was  to  attack  "Emp- 
findsamkeit" on  its  dangerous  and  not  on  its  comic  side,  hence 
the  book  avoids  in  the  main  the  lighthearted  and  telling  bur- 
lesque, the  Hudibrastic  satire  of  Timme's  novel.  He  works 
along  lines  which  lead  through  increasing  trouble  to  a  tragic 
denouement. 

The  preface  contains  a  rather  elaborate  classification  of 
kinds  of  "Empfindsamkeit,"  which  reminds  one  of  Sterne's 
mock-scientific  discrimination.  This  classification  is  accord- 
ing to  temperament,  education,  example,  custom,  reading, 
strength  or  weakness  of  the  imagination;  there  is  a  happy,  a 
sad,  a  gentle,  a  vehement,  a  dallying,  a  serious,  a  melancholy, 
sentimentality,  the  last  being  the  most  poetic,  the  most  perilous. 

The  leading  character,  Wilhelmine,  is,  like  most  charac- 
ters which  are  chosen  and  built  up  to  exemplify  a  preconceived 
theory,  quite  unconvincing.  In  his  foreword  Wezel  analyzes 
his  heroine's  character  and  details  at  some  length  the  motives 
underlying  the  choice  of  attributes  and  the  building  up  of  her 
personality.  This  insight  into  the  author's  scaffolding,  this 
explanation  of  the  mechanism  of  his  puppet-show,  does  not 
enhance  the  aesthetic,  or  the  satirical  force  of  the  figure.  She 
is  not  conceived  in  flesh  and  blood,  but  is  made  to  order. 

The  story  begins  in  letters, — a  method  of  story-telling  which 
was  the  legacy  of  Richardson's  popularity — and  this  device  is 
again  employed  in  the  second  volume  (Part  VII).  Wilhel- 
mine Arend  is  one  of  those  whom  sentimentalism  seized  like  a 
maddening  pestiferous  disease.  We  read  of  her  that  she 
melted  into  tears  when  her  canary  bird  lost  a  feather,  that  she 
turned  white  and  trembled  when  Dr.  Braun  hacked  worms  to 
pieces  in  conducting  a  biological  experiment.  On  one  occasion 
she  refused  to  drive  home,  as  this  would  take  the  horses  out 

»  LII,  I,  p.   149. 


180 

in  the  noonday  sun  and  disturb  their  noonday  meal, — an  ex- 
orbitant sympathy  with  brute  creation  which  owes  its  popular- 
ity to  Yorick's  ass.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  relate  the  whole 
story.  Wilhelmine's  excessive  sentimentality  estranges  her 
from  her  husband,  a  weak  brutish  man,  who  has  no  compre- 
hension of  her  feelings.  He  finds  a  refuge  in  the  debasing  af- 
fections of  a  French  opera-singer,  Pouilly,  and  gradually  sinks 
to  the  very  lowest  level  of  degradation.  This  all  is  accom- 
plished by  the  interposition  and  active  concern  of  friends,  by 
efforts  at  reunion  managed  by  benevolent  intriguers  and  kindly 
advisers. 

The  advice  of  Drs.  Braun  and  Irwin  is  especially  signifi- 
cant in  its  sane  characterization  of  Wilhelmine's  mental  disor- 
ders, and  the  observations  upon  "Empfindsamkeit"  which  are 
scattered  through  the  book  are  trenchant,  and  often  markedly 
clever.  Wilhelmine  holds  sentimental  converse  with  three 
kindred  spirits  in  succession,  Webson,  Dittmar,  and  Geissing. 
The  first  reads  touching  tales  aloud  to  her  and  they  two  unite 
their  tears,  a  sentimental  idea  dating  from  the  Maria  of  Mou- 
lines  episode.  The  part  which  the  physical  body,  with  its  de- 
mands and  desires  unacknowledged  and  despised,  played  as 
the  unseen  moving  power  in  these  three  friendships  is  clearly 
and  forcefully  brought  out.  Allusion  to  Timme's  elucidation 
of  this  principle,  which,  though  concealed,  underlay  much  of 
the  sentimentalism  of  this  epoch,  has  already  been  made. 
Finally  Wilhelmine  is  persuaded  by  her  friends  to  leave  her 
husband,  and  the  scene  is  shifted  to  a  little  Harz  village,  where 
she  is  married  to  Webson ;  but  the  unreasonableness  of  her  na- 
ture develops  inordinately,  and  she  is  unable  ever  to  submit  to 
any  reasonable  human  relations,  and  the  rest  of  the  tale  is  oc- 
cupied with  her  increasing  mental  aberration,  her  retirement 
to  a  hermit-like  seclusion,  and  her  death. 

The  book,  as  has  been  seen,  presents  a  rather  pitiful  satire 
on  the  whole  sentimental  epoch,  not  treating  any  special  man- 
ifestation, but  applicable  in  large  measure  equally  to  those  who 
joined  in  expressing  the  emotional  ferment  to  which  Sterne, 
"Werther"  and  "Siegwart"  gave  impulse,  and  for  which  they 
secured  literary  recognition.     Wezel  fails  as  a  satirist,  partly 


181 

because  his  leading  character  is  not  convincing,  but  largely 
because  his  satirical  exaggeration,  and  distortion  of  character- 
istics, which  by  a  process  of  selection  renders  satire  efficient,  fails 
to  make  the  exponent  of  sentimentalism  ludicrous,  but  renders 
her  pitiful.  At  the  same  time  this  satirical  warping  impairs  the 
value  of  the  book  as  a  serious  presentation  of  a  prevailing 
malady.     The  book  falls  between  two  stools. 

A  precursor  of  "Wilhelmine  Arend"  from  Wezel's  own 
hand  was  "Die  ungliickliche  Schwache,"  which  was  published 
in  the  second  volume  of  his  "Satirische  Erzahlungen."^  In 
this  book  we  have  a  character  with  a  heart  like  the  sieve  of  the 
Danaids,  and  to  Frau  Laclerc  is  attributed  "an  exaggerated 
softness  of  heart  which  was  unable  to  resist  a  single  impres- 
sion, and  was  carried  away  at  any  time,  wherever  the  present 
impulse  bore  it."  The  plot  of  the  story,  with  the  intrigues  of 
Graf.  Z.,  the  Pouilly  of  the  piece,  the  separation  of  husband 
and  wife,  their  reunion,  the  disasters  following  directly  in  the 
train  of  weakness  of  heart  in  opposing  sentimental  attacks,  are 
undoubtedly  children  of  the  same  purpose  as  that  which 
brought  forth  "Wilhelmine  Arend." 

Another  satirical  protest  was,  as  one  reads  from  a  contem- 
porary review,  "Die  Tausend  und  eine  Masche,  oder  Yoricks 
wahres  Shicksall,  ein  blaues  Mahrchen  von  Herrn  Stanhope" 
(1777,  8°).  The  book  purports  to  be  the  posthumous  work 
of  a  young  Englishman,  who,  disgusted  with  Yorick's  German 
imitators,  grew  finally  indignant  with  Yorick  himself.  The 
Almanach  der  deutschen  Musen  (1778,  pp.  99-100)  finds  that 
the  author  misjudges  Yorick.  The  book  is  written  in  part  if 
not  entirely  in  verse. 

In  1774  a  correspondent  of  Wieland's  Merkur  writes,  beg- 
ging this  authoritative  periodical  to  condemn  a  weekly  paper 
just  started  in  Prague,  entitled  "Wochentlich  Etwas,"  which  is 
said  to  be  written  in  the  style  of  Tristram  Shandy  and  the 
Sentimental  Journey,  M  .  .  .  R  .  .  .  and  "die  Beytrage  zur 
Geheimen  Geschichte  des  menschlichen  Herzens  und  Ver- 
standes,"  and  thereby  is  a  shame  to  "our  dear  Bohemia." 

^Reviewed  in  Almanach  der  deutscher  Musen,  1779,  p.  41.  The  worl;  was 
published  in  Leipzig,   I,   1777;   II,    1778. 


182 


In  this  way  it  is  seen  how  from  various  sources  and  in 
various  ways  protest  was  made  against  the  real  or  distorted 
message  of  Laurence  Sterne. 


A  BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  LAURENCE  STERNE 

The  Case  of  Elijah  and  the  Widow  of  Zerephath  considered: 
A  charity  sermon  preach'd  on  Good  Friday,  April  17,  1747. 
York,  1747. 

The  Abuses  of  Conscience  set  forth  in  a  sermon  preached  in 
the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Peter's,  York,  July  29,  1750. 
York,  1750. 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  vols.  I,  II,  York, 
1759.  2d.  ed.  London,  1760.  Vols.  Ill,  IV,  London, 
1761.  Vols.  V,  VI,  London,  1762.  Vols.  VII,  VIII,  Lon- 
don, 1765.     Vol.  IX,  London,  1767. 

Sermons  of  Mr.  Yorick.  Vols.  I,  II,  London,  1760.  Vols, 
III,  IV,  London,  1766.     Vols.  V,  VI,  VII,  London,  1769. 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy,  2  vols. 
London,  1768. 

A  Political  Romance  addressed  to ,  esq.,  of  York,  1769. 

The  first  edition  of  the  Watchcoat  story. 

Letters  from  Yorick  to  Eliza.     London,  1775. 

Twelve  Letters  to  his  Friends  on  Various  Occasions,  to  which 
is  added  his  history  of  a  Watchcoat,  with  explanatory 
notes.     London,  1775. 

Letters  of  the  Late  Reverend  Laurence  Sterne  to  his  most  inti- 
mate Friends  with  a  Fragment  in  the  Manner  of  Rabelais 
to  which  are  prefixed  Memoirs  of  his  life  and  family 
written  by  himself,  published  by  his  daughter,  Lydia  Sterne 
de  Medalle.     London,  1775. 

Seven  Letters  written  by  Sterne  and  his  Friends,  edited  by  W. 
Durrant  Cooper.     1844. 

Unpublished  Letters  of  Laurence  Sterne.  In  Philobiblon  So- 
ciety Miscellanies.  1855,  Vol.  II.  The  Kitty  Corre- 
spondence. 

183 


184 

Works  of  Laurence  Sterne.     lo  vols.     London,  Dodsley,  etc., 

1793- 
Works.     Edited  by   G.   E.    B.    Saintsbury,   6  vols.     London, 

1894. 

These  two  editions  have  been  chiefly  used  in  the  preparation  of  this 
work.     Because  of  its  general  accessibility  references  to  Tristram  Shandy 
and  the  Sentimental  Journey  are  made  to  the  latter. 
Illustrations   of   Sterne,   by   Dr.    John   Ferriar.     Manchester, 

1798.     2d  edition:  London,  1812. 
Lift!  of  Laurence   Sterne,  by   Percy  Fitzgerald.     1864.     Re- 
vised edition,  London,  1896.     2  vols. 
Sterne,  in  English  Men  of  Letters  Series,  by  H.  D.  Traill. 

1883. 
Sir  Walter  Scott.     Lives  of  the  Novelists,  Vol.  I,  p.  156-186. 
Paul  Stapfer.     Laurence  Sterne,  sa  personne  et  ses  ouvrages 

etude   precedee   d'un   fragment   inedit   de    Sterne.     Paris, 

1882. 
William   M.   Thackeray.     Sterne   and   Goldsmith,   in   English 

Humorists,  1858,  pp.  286-341. 
J.  B.  Montegut,  Essais  sur  la  Litterature  anglaise.     1883,  pp. 

279-364. 
Walter  Bagehot,  Sterne  and  Thackeray,  in  Literary  Studies. 

1902,  Vol.  II,  pp.  282-325. 
E.  Scherer.     Laurence  Sterne  or  the  Humorist,  in  Essays  on 

English  Literature.     1891,  pp.  150-173. 
Sir  Leslie  Stephen.     Hours  in  a  Library.     1852.     Vol.   Ill, 

pp.  139-174- 
Herbert  Paul.     Men  and  Letters.     1901.     Pp.  67-89. 
Whitwell    Elwin.     Some    XVIII    Century    Men    of    Letters. 

1902.     Vol.  II,  pp.  1-81. 
Sidney  Lee.     Article  on  Sterne  in  the  National  Dictionary  of 

Biography. 


185 

A  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  STERNE  IN  GERMANY 

It  cannot  be  assumed  that  the  following  list  of  reprints  and  transla- 
tions is  complete.  The  conditions  of  the  book  trade  then  existing  were 
such  that  unauthorized  editions  of  popular  books  were  very  common. 

I.  German  editions  of  Sterne's  works  including  spuri- 
ous OR   DOUBTFUL    WORKS    PUBLISHED  UNDER    HIS    NAME. 

a.     Tristram  Shandy 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  Gentleman,  6  vols. 
Altenburg,  1772.     (Richter.) 

The  same.     Altenburg,  1776. 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  Gentleman.  A 
new  edition.     Basil,  1792.     (Legrand). 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  2  vols  gr.  8°. 
Gotha,   1792.     (Ettinger).     Identical  with  the  preceding. 

Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  4  vols,  (with  4  en- 
gravings).    Wien,  1798.     (Sammer.) 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  4  vols.  Gotha, 
1805-6.     (Stendel  and  Keil.) 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  Schneebtirg,  1833. 
Pocket  edition  of  the  most  eminent  English  authors  of  the 
preceding  century,  of  which  it  is  vols.  XI-XIII, 

The  Life  and  Opinions  of  Tristram  Shandy,  2  vols.,  gr.  8°. 
Basel.     (Thurneisen),  without  date. 

b.     The  Sentimental  Journey 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy,  2  vols.  8*. 

Altenburg,  1771.     (Richter.) 
The  same  with  cuts,  2  vols,  8°.     Altenburg,  1772.     (Richter.) 
The  same.     Altenburg,  1776.     (Richter.) 
The    same.     Gottingen,    1779.     (Diederich).     Pp.    199.     No 

introduction  or  notes. 
A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy  in  two  books. 

G5ttingen,  1787.     (Dietrich.) 
A  Sentimental  Journey  with  a  continuation  by  Eugenius  and 

an  account  of  the  life  and  writings  of  L.  Sterne,  gr.  8°. 

Basel,  1792.     (Legrand,  Ettinger  in  Gotha.) 


186 

Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy  mit  Anmer- 
kungen   und   Wortregister,   8°,     Halle,    1794.     (Renger). 

A  sentimental  Journey  througfh  France  and  Italy.  4  parts 
complete  in  2  vols.  2d  edition  to  which  are  now  added 
several  other  pieces  by  the  same  author.  (With  four  en- 
gravings)  12°.     Wien,  1798.     (Sammer.) 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy  and  the  con- 
tinuation by  Eugenius,  2  parts,  8°.  Halle,  1806.  (Hen- 
del). 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy  by  Mr. 
Yorick.  In  Two  Books.  Gottingen,  1806.  (Dietrich). 
Pp.  271. 

A  Sentimental  Journey.  New  edition,  12°.  Altenburg,  1815. 
(Brockhaus  in  Leipzig.) 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy,  gr.  12°. 
Jena,  1826.     (Schmid.) 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy,  16°.  Niirn- 
berg,  1828.     (Campe.) 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy.  Schnee- 
berg,  1830.  Pocket  edition  of  the  most  eminent  English 
authors  of  the  preceding  century,  of  which  it  is  Vol.  IV. 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy.  Basil 
(Thurneisen),  without  date. 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy.  London. 
Cooke.     Campe  in  Hamburg,  without  date. 

Tauchnitz  has  published  editions  of  both  Shandy  and  the 
Journey. 

c.     Letters,  Sermons  and  Miscellaneous 

Yorick's  letters  to  Eliza,  Eliza's  letters  to  Yorick.     Sterne's 

letters  to  his  Friends.  Altenburg,  1776.  (Richter.) 
Letters  to  his  most  intimate  Friends,  with  a  fragment  in  the 

manner    of    Rabelais    published   by    his    Daughter,    Mme. 

Medalle.  3  vols.,  8°.  Altenburg,  1776.  (Richter.) 
Letters  written  between  Yorick  and  Eliza  with  letters  to  his 

Friends.     Niirnberg,  8°,  1788.     (Schneider.) 


187 

Letters    written    between    Yorick    and    Eliza.     12°,     Vienna, 

1795- 
Letters     between     Yorick     and     Eliza,     12°.     Wien,     1797. 

(Sammer.) 

Letters  of  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Laurence  Sterne,  to  his  most  inti- 
mate friends,  on  various  occasions,  as  published  by  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Medalle,  and  others,  including  the  letters 
between  Yorick  and  Eliza.  To  which  are  added :  An  ap- 
pendix of  XXXII  Letters  never  printed  before;  A  frag- 
ment in  the  manner  of  Rabelais,  and  the  History  of  a 
Watchcoat.  With  explanatory  notes.  2  vols.  Vienna, 
1797.     (Sammer.) 

Letters  written  between  Yorick  and  Eliza,  mit  einem  erklaren- 
den  Wortregister  zum  Selbstunterricht  von  J.  H.  Emmert. 
Giessen,  1802. 

Sermons    by    Laurence    Sterne.     7    vols.     Altenburg,     1777. 
(Richter)  8°. 
v  The  Koran,  or  Essays,  Sentiments  and  Callimachies,  etc.     i 

vol.     Wien,  1795.     (Sammer.) 
^  The  Koran,  etc.     Wien,  1798).     (Sammer).     12°,  pp.  275. 

Gleanings  from  the  works  of  Laurence  Sterne.  Campe's  edi- 
tion.    Niirnberg  and  New  York.     Without  date. 

II.     German  Translations   of   Sterne. 

a.     Tristram  Shandy 

Das  Leben  und  die  Meynungen  des  Herrn  Tristram  Shandy. 

Berlin  und  Stralsund,  1763.     Parts  I- VI.     Translation  by 

Johann  Friedrich  Zuckert. 
The  same.     Parts  VII-VIII.     1763. 
The  same.     Part  IX  (spurious),     1767. 
Das  Leben  und  die  Meynungen  des  Herrn  Tristram  Shandy. 

Nach   einer  neuen  Uebersetzung.     Berlin  und   Stralsund, 

1 769- 1 772.     (Lange.)     A  revised  edition  of  the  previous 

translation. 
Das  Leben  und  die  Meinungen  des  Herrn  Tristram  Shandy  aus 

dem  Englischen  iibersetzt,  nach  einer  neuen  Uebersetzung 

auf  Anrathen  des  Hrn.  Hofrath  Wielands  verfasst.     Neun 

Theile,     Berlin,  1774. 


188 

Another  edition  of  the  same  translation. 

Tristram  Schandi's  Leben  und  Meynungen.     Hamburg,  1774. 

Bey  Bode.     Translation  by  J.  J.  C.  Bode.     Nine  parts.     I, 

pp.  185;  II,  pp.  191;  III,  p.  210;  IV,  pp.  226;  V,  pp.  166; 

VI,  pp.  164;  VII,  pp.  148;  VIII,  pp.  144;  IX,  pp.  128. 
The  same.     Zweite  verbesserte  Auflage.     Hamburg,  1776. 
The  same,  1777. 
The  same,  1778. 

The  same.     Nachdruck,  Hanau  und  Hochst.     lyyG-y. 
The  same.     Nachdruck.     Berlin,  1778. 
Tristram   Shandy's  Leben  und  Meinungen,  von  neuem  ver- 

deutscht.     3   vols.     Leipzig,    1801.     (Linke.)     A  revision 

of  Bode's  translation  by  J.  L.  Benzler. 
The  same.  Hannover.  1810.  (Hahn.) 
Leben  und  Meinungen  des  Tristram  Shandy  von  Sterne — neu 

iibertragen  von  W.  H.,  Magdeburg,  1831.     Sammlung  der 

ausgezeichnetsten  humoristischen  und  komischen  Romane 

des  Auslands  in  neuen  zeitgemassen  Bearbeitungen.     Bd.  X, 

I,  pp.  188;  II,  pp.  192;  III,  pp.  151;  IV,  pp.  168;  V,  pp. 

256;  V,  pp.  257-264,  Ueber  Laurence  Sterne  und  dessen 

Werke.     Another  revision  of  Bode's  work, 
Tristram  Shandy's  Leben  und  Meinungen,  von  Lorenz  Sterne, 

aus  dem  Englischen  von  Dr.  G.  R.  Barmann.  Berlin,  1856. 
Tristram  Shandy's  Leben  und  Meinungen,  aus  dem  Englischen 

iibersetzt  von  F.  A.  Gelbcke.     Nos.  96-99  of  "Bibliothek 

auslandischer     Klassiker."       Leipzig,     1879.       (Bibliogra- 

phisches  Institut.) 
Leben  und  Meinungen  des  Herrn  Tristram  Shandy.     Deutsch 

von  A.  Seubert.     Leipzig,  1881.     (Reclam.) 

b.     The  Sentimental  Journey 

Yorick's    emfindsame    Reise    durch    Frankreich    und    Italien. 

Hamburg  und  Bremen,  1768.  Translated  by  J.  J.  C.  Bode. 
The  same,  with  parts  III,  IV  (Stevenson's  continuation),  1769. 
The  same.     Hamburg  und  Bremen,   1770,  1771,   1772,   1776, 

1777,  1804. 
The  same.     Mannheim.     1780. 
The  same.     Leipzig,  1797,  1802.     (Rabenhorst.) 


189 

Versuch  iiber  die  menschliche  Natur  in  Herrn  Yoricks,  Ver- 
fasser  des  Tristram  Shandy  Reisen  durch  Frankreich  und 
Italien.  Braunschweig,  1769.  (FiirstHche  Waisenhaus- 
buchhandking),  pp.  248.  Translation  by  Hofprediger 
Mittelstedt. 

Herrn  Yoricks,  Verfasser  des  Tristram  Shandy,  Reisen  durch 
Frankreich  und  ItaHen,  als  ein  Versuch  iiber  die  mensch- 
liche Natur.  Braunschweig,  1769.  Is  a  second  edition  of 
the  former. 

The  same,  1774. 

Yoricks  empfindsame  Reise  von  neuem  verdeutscht.  2  vols. 
Leipzig,  1801.  A  revision  of  Bode's  work  by  Johann 
Lorenz  Benzler. 

Empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien  iibersetzt  von 
Ch.  C.  Meissner.     Zwickau,  1825.     (Schumann.) 

Fine  Empfindsame  Reise  .  .  .  iibersetzt,  mit  Lebensbeschrei- 
bung  des  Autors  und  erlauternden  Bemerkungen  von  H. 
A.  Clemen.     Essen,  1827. 

A  Sentimental  Journey  through  France  and  Italy.  Yorick's 
Empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien,  mit  er- 
lauternden Anmerkungen  von  W.  Gramberg.  8°.  Olden- 
burg, 1833.  (Schulze.)  Since  both  titles  are  given,  it  is 
not  evident  whether  this  is  a  reprint,  a  translation,  or  both. 

Laurence  Sterne — Yoricks  Empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frank- 
reich und  Italien.  Halle.  (Hendel.)  A  revision  of 
Bode's  translation,  with  a  brief  introductory  note  by  E. 
Suchier. 

Yorick's  empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien. 
iibersetzt  von  A.  Lewald.     Pforzheim,  1842. 

Yorick's  empfindsame  Reise,  ubersetzt  von  K.  Either.  Bib- 
liothek  auslandischer  Klassiker.  Bd.  75.  Hildburg- 
hausen. 

Empfindsame  Reise  durch  Frankreich  und  Italien  Deutsch  von 
Friedrich  Horlek.     Leipzig,  1859.     (Reclam.) 

c.     Letters,  Sermons  and  Miscellaneous 
Brief e  von   (Yorick)    Sterne  an  seine  Freunde  Nebst  seiner 


190 

Geschichte  eines  Ueberrocks,  Aus  dem  Englischen.  Ham- 
burg, 1775.     (Bohn.)     Pp.  VIII,  144. 

Yorick's  Brief e  an  Elisa.  Hamburg,  1775.  (Bohn.)  Pp. 
XX,  75. 

Briefe    von    Elisa    an    Yorick.     Aus    dem    Engl.     Hamburg, 

1775.  Pp.  XVI,  64. 

Translation  of  the  above  three  probably  by  Bode. 

Briefwechsel  mit  Elisen  und  seinen  iibrigen  Freunden.  Leip- 
zig, 1775.     (Weidmann.) 

Elisens  achte  Briefe  an  Yorik.     Leipzig,  1775. 

Briefe  an  seine  vertrauten  Freunde  nebst  Fragment  im  Ge- 
schmack  des  Rabelais  und  einer  von  ihm  selbst  verfassten 
Nachricht  von  seinem  Leben  und  seiner  Familie,  heraus- 
gegeben  von  seiner  Tochter   Madame   Medalle.     Leipzig, 

1776.  (Weidmann.)  Pp.  XXVIII,  391.  Translation 
probably  by  Chr.  Felix  Weisse. 

The  same.     1785. 

Yorick's  Briefe  an  Elisa.  Leipzig,  1785.  (Goschen.)  A 
new  edition  of  Bode's  rendering. 

Briefe  von  Lorenz  Sterne,  dem  Verfasser  von  Yorik's  empfind- 
same  Reisen.  Englisch  und  Deutsch  zum  erstenmal  ab- 
gedruckt.  London,  1787.  Is  probably  the  same  as  "Hin- 
terlassene  Briefe.  Englisch  und  Deutsch."  Leipzig,  1787. 
(Nauck.) 

Predigten  von  Laurenz  Sterne  oder  Yorick.  Zurich.  I,  1766; 
II,  1767.     (Fuesslin  und  Comp.) 

The  same.  III,  under  the  special  title  "Reden  an  Esel." 

Predigten.     Zurich,  1773.     (Orell.) 

Neue  Sammlung  von  Predigten:  Leipsig,  1770.  (Hahn.) 
Translation  by  Prof.  A.  E.  Klausing. 

Reden  an  Esel.  Mit  Einleitung  und  Anmerkungen.  Ham- 
burg, 1795.     (Herold,  jun.) 

Reden  an  Esel,  von  Lorenz  Sterne.     Thorn,  1795. 

Lorenz  Sterne  des  Menschenkenners  Benutzung  einiger 
Schriftsteller.  Basel,  1781.  (Flick.)  An  abridged  edi- 
tion of  his  sermons. 


191 

Buch  der  Predigten  oder  lOO  Predigten  und  Reden  aus  den 
verschiedenen  Zeiten  by  R.  Nesselmann,  Elbing,  1868. 
Contains  Sterne's  sermon  on  St.  Luke  X,  23-37. 

Yorick's  Nachgelassene  Werke.  Leipzig,  177 1.  Translation 
of  the  Koran,  by  J.  G.  Gellius. 

De^  Koran,  oder  Leben  und  Meinungen  des  Tria  Juncta  in 
Uno,  M.  N.  A.  Ein  hinterlassenes  Werk  von  dem  "V'er- 
fasser  des  Tristram  Shandy.  Hamburg,  1778.  Transla- 
tion probably  by  Bode. 
,  Yorick's  Betrachtungen  iiber  verschiedene  wichtige  und  an- 
genehme  Gegenstande.     Frankfurt  und  Leipzig,  1769. 

Betrachtungen  iiber  verschiedene  Gegenstande.  Braun- 
schweig, 1789.      (Schulbuchhandlung.) 

Nachlese  aus  Laurence  Sterne's  Werken  in's  Deutsche  iibersetzt 
von  Julius  Voss.     Thorn,  1854. 

French  translations  of  Sterne's  works  were  issued  at  Bern  and 
Strassburg,  and  one  of  his  "Sentimental  Journey"  at 
Kopenhagen  and  an  Italian  translation  of  the  same  in  Dres- 
den (1822),  and  in  Prague  (1821). 

III.     Miscellaneous  Authorities. 

The  following  list  contains  (a)  books  or  articles  treating  particularly, 
or  at  some  length,  the  relation  of  German  authors  to  Laurence  Sterne ; 
(b)  books  of  general  usefulness  in  determining  literary  conditions  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  to  which  frequent  reference  is  made ;  (c)  periodicals 
which  are  the  sources  of  reviews  and  criticisms  cited  in  the  text.  Other 
works  to  which  only  incidental  reference  is  made  are  noted  in  the  text 
itself. 

Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek.     Berlin  und  Stettin,  1765-92. 

Edited  by  Nicolai. 
Allgemeine  Litteratur  Zeitung.     Jena,  Leipzig,  Wien,  1781. 
Almanach  der  deutschen  Musen.     Leipzig,  1770-1781.    Edited 

by  Chr.  Heinr.  Schmid. 
Altonaer    Reichs-Postreuter.      1750.      Editor    1772-1786    was 

Albrecht  Wittenberg. 
Altonischer  Gelehrter  Mercurius.     Altona,  \'j(>y\y'j2. 
Appell,    Joh.    Wilhelm.     Werther    und    Seine    Zeit.     4    Aufl. 

Oldenburg,  1896. 


/' 


X 


192 

Auserlesene    Bibliothek    der    neuesten    deutschen    Litteratur. 

Lemgo,  1 772- 1 778. 
Baker,  Thomas  Stockham.     The  Influence  of  Laurence  Sterne 

upon  German  Literature.     In  Americana  Germanica.     Vol. 

II,  No.  4,  pp.  41-56. 
Bauer,  F.     Sternescher  Humor  in  Immermanns  Miinchhausen. 

Programm.     Wien,  1896. 
^    Bauer,  F.     Ueber  den  Einfluss  Laurence  Sternes  auf  Chr,  M. 

Wieland.     Programm.     Karlsbad.     1898. 
Behmer,  Karl  August.     Laurence  Sterne  und  C.  M.  Wieland. 

Forschungen    zur    neueren    Litteraturgeschichte,    No.    9 

Miinchen,    1899.     Ein    Beitrag   zur   Erforschung   fremder 

Einfliisse  auf  Wielands  Dichtungen. 
Berlinische   Alonatsschrift,    1783- 1796,   edited   by    Gedike   and 

Biester. 
Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften  und  der  freyen  Kiinste. 

Leipzig,    1757-65.     12   vol.     I-IV   edited   by    Nicolai   and 

Mendelssohn,  V-XII  edited  by  Chr.  Felix  Weisse. 
J.  J.   C.   Bode's  Literarisches  Leben.     Nebst  dessen   Bildniss 

von   Lips.     Berlin,    1796.     First  published   in  Vol.   VI   of 

Bode's   translation   of    Montaigne,    "Michael    Montaigne's 

Gedanken  und  Meinungen."     Berlin,  1793-1795.     The  life 

of  Bode  is  Vol.  VI,  pp.  III-CXLIV. 
Bremisches    Magazin    zur    Ausbreitung    der    Wissenschaften, 

Kiinste  und  Tugend.     Bremen  und  Leipzig,  1757-66. 
^     Biichner,     Alex.     Sternes     Goran     und     Makariens     Archiv. 

Goethe  ein  Plagiator  ?     Morgenblatt,  No.  39,  p.  922  f . 
Czerny,  Johann,  Sterne,  Hippel  und  Jean  Paul.     Berlin,  1904. 
Deutsche    Bibliothek    der    schonen    Wissenschaften.     Halle, 

1 767- 1 77 1.     Edited  by  Klotz. 
Deutsches   Museum.     Leipzig,    1776- 1788.     Edited  by  Dohm 

and    Boie    and    continued    to    1791    as    Neues    deutsches 

Museum. 
Ebeling,  Friedrich  W.     Geschichte  der  komischen  Literatur  in 

Deutschland  wahrend  der  2.  Halfte  des  18.  Jahrhunderts. 

Leipzig,  1869.     3  vols. 
Elze,  Frederich  Karl.     Die  englische  Sprache  und  Litteratur 

in  Deutschland.     Dresden,  1864. 


/ 


193 

Erfurtische  Gelehrte  Zeitiing.     Erfurt,  1 781 -1796, 

Frankfurter  Gelehrte  Anzeigen.  Frankfurt.  Published  under 
several  titles,  1736- 1790.  Editors,  Merck,  Bahrdt  and 
others. 

Gervinus,  G.  G.  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Dichtung. 
Edited  by  Karl  Bartsch.     5  vols.     Leipzig,  1871-74. 

Goedeke,  Karl.  Grundriss  zur  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Dich- 
tung.    Dresden,  1884- 1900. 

Gothaische  gelehrte  Zeitungen.  Gotha,  1774- 1804.  Pub- 
lished and  edited  by  Ettinger. 

Gottingische  Anzeigen  von  Gelehrten  Sachen  1753.  Michaelis 
was  editor  1753- 1770,  then  Christian  Gottlob  Heyne. 

Hamburger  Adress-Comptoir  Nachrichten,  1767.  Edited  by 
Joh.  Wm.  Dumpf. 

Hamburgischer  unpartheyischer  Correspondent.  Full  title, 
Staats-  und  Gelehrte  Zeitung  des  Hamburgischen  unpar- 
theyischen  Correspondenten.  Editor,  1763-3,  Bode;  1767- 
1770,  Albrecht  Wittenberg. 

Hedouin,  Alfred.  Goethe  plagiaire  de  Sterne,  in  Le  Monde 
Magonnique.     July,  1863. 

Heine,  Carl.  Der  Roman  in  Deutschland  von  1774  bis  1778. 
Halle,  1892. 

Hettner,  Flermann.  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Literatur  im 
achtzehnten  Jahrhundert.  4te  Auflage.  Braunschweig, 
1893-94.  This  is  the  third  division  of  his  Literatur- 
geschichte  des  achtzehnten  Jahrhunderts. 

Hillebrand,  Joseph.  Die  deutsche  Nationalliteratur  seit  dem 
Anfange  des  achtzehnten  Jahrhunderts,  besonders  seit  Les- 
sing  bis  auf  die  Gegenwart.  2te  Ausgabe.  Hamburg  und 
Gotha,  1850. 

Hirsching,  Friedr.  Carl  Gottlob.  Historisch-litterarisches 
Handbuch  beriihmter  und  denkwiirdiger  Personen,  welche 
in  dem  18.  Jahrhundert  gelebt  haben.  Vol.  XHI.  Leip- 
zig, 1809. 

Jenaische  Zeitungen  von  gelehrten  Sachen.     Jena,  1765-1781. 

Jordens,  Karl  Heinrich.  Lexikon  deutscher  Dichter  und  Pro- 
saisten.     Leipzig,  1 806- 181 1. 


194 

Koberstein,  Karl  xA-Ugust.     Geschichte  der  dcutschen  Nation- 

alliteratur.     Leipzig,  1872-73. 
Koch,  Max.     Ueber  die  Beziehungen  der  englischen  Literatur 

zur  deutschen  im  18.  Jahrhundert.     Leipzig,  1883. 
Kurz,  Heinrich.     Geschichte  der  deutschen  Literatur.     Leip- 
zig, 1876-81. 
Leipziger  Musen-Ahnanach.     Leipzig,  1776-87.     Editor,  1776- 

78,  Friedrich  Traugott  Hase. 
Longo,  Joseph.     Laurence  Sterne  und  Johann  Georg  Jacobi. 

Programm.     Krems,  1898. 
Magazin  der  deutschen  Critik.     Halle,  1772-1776.     Edited  by 

Gottlob  Benedict  Schirach. 
Mager,  A.     Wielands  Nachlass  des  Diogenes  von  Sinope  und 

das  englische  Vorbild.     Abhandlung.     Marburg,  1890. 
Meusel,  Johann  Georg.     Das  gelehrte  Deutschland,  oder  Lex- 
icon der  jetzt  lebenden  deutschen  Schriftsteller.     Lemgo, 

1 796- 1 806. 
Meusel,  Johann  Georg.     Lexicon  der  von  1750  bis  1800  ver- 

storbenen  teutschen  Schriftsteller.     Leipzig,  1802-16. 
Neue  Allgemeine  deutsche  Bibliothek.     Kiel,  1793-1800. 

Edited  by  Bohn.     Berlin  und  Stettin,   1801-1805.     Edited 

by  Nicolai. 
Neue  Bibliothek  der  schonen  Wissenschaften  und  der  freyen 

Kiinste.     Leipzig,   1765- 1806.     Edited  first  by  Chr.   Felix 

Weisse,  then  by  the  publisher  Dyk. 
Neue  Critische  Nachrichten.     Greifswald,  1750-1807.     Editor 

from  1779  was  Georg  Peter  Aloller,  professor  of  history  at 

Greifswald. 
Neues  Bremisches  Magazin.     Bremen,  1766-1771. 
Neue  Hallische  Gelehrte  Zeitung.     Founded  by  Klotz  in  1766, 

and  edited  by  him  1766-71,  then  by  Philipp  Ernst  Bertram, 

1772-77. 
Neue  litterarische  L'nterhaltungen.     Breslau.  bey  Korn  der  a 

1774-75- 
Neue     Mannigfaltigkeiten.      Fine     gemeinniitzige     Wochen- 
schrift,  follows  Mannigfaltigheiten  which  ran  from  Sept., 
1769  to  May,  1773,  and  in  June   1773,  the  new  series  began. 
Berlin.     Vol.  IL  pp.  97-106.     Life  of  Sterne. 


195 

Neue  Zeitungen  von  Gelehrten  Sachen.  1715-1785.  At  the 
latter  date  the  title  was  changed  to  Neue  Litteratur 
Zeitung.     Leipzig. 

Schmidt,  Julian.  Bilder  aus  dem  geistigen  Leben  unserer 
Zeit.  Leipzig,  1870.  Vol.  IV,  1875.  ^^ol-  I^^  PP-  ^7'^  ^^ 
Studien  iiber  den  Englischen  Roman. 

Schmidt,  Julian.  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Litteratur  von 
Leibnitz  bis  auf  unsere  Zeit.     Berlin,  1886-96. 

Schmidt,  Julian.  Geschichte  des  geistigen  Lebens  in  Deutsch- 
land  von  Leibnitz  bis  auf  Lessing's  Tod,  1681-1781.  Leip- 
zig, I,  1862;  II,  1864. 

Schroder,  Lexicon  Hamburgischer  Schriftsteller.  Hamburg-, 
1851-83.  8  vols. 

Springer,  Robert.     Essays  zur  Kritik  und  zur  Goethe-Liter- 


atur.      "War    Goethe    ein    Plagiarius    Lorenz    Sternes?" 

Minden  i.  W.,  1885. 
Teutscher  Mercur.     Weimar,  1773-89.     And  Neuer  deutscher 

Merkur.     Weimar,  1790-1810.     Edited  by  Wieland,  Rein- 
hold  and  Bottiger. 
Unterhaltungen.     Hamburg   bey    Bock,    1767-70.     Edited    by 

J.  J.  Eschenburg,   I-IV;  x\lbrecht  Wittenberg,  V;  Chris- 

toph  Dan.  Ebeling,  VI-X. 
(Der)    W^andsbecker    Bothe.     Edited   by    Matthias    Claudius. 

Wandsbeck,  1771-75. 


INDEX  OF  PROPER  NAMES 


Abbt,  43. 
Abel,  J.  F.,  170. 
Addison,  157. 
Alberti,  26,  27,  46. 

Behrens,  Johanna  Friederike,  87. 
Benzler,  J.  L.,  61,  62. 
Blankenburg,  5,  8,  139. 
Bock,  Job.   Chr.,  93,   127,   129-133, 

136. 
Bode,  J.  J.  C,  IS,  16,  24,  34,  Z7,  38, 

40-62,  67,  76,  90,  94,  106,  115. 
Bodmer,  75. 
Boie,  59,  131. 
Bondeli,  Julie  v.,  30,  31. 
Bonstetten,  89. 
Bottiger,   C.   A.,  38,  42-44,  48,  49, 

52,  58,  77,  81. 
Brandon,  J.,  82. 
Brockes,  37. 
Burney,  Frances,  37. 
Burton,  yj. 
Butler,  6,  29. 

y 
Campe,  J.  H.,  43,  164-166. 
Carr,  John,  14. 

Cervantes,  6,  23,  26,  60,  168,  178. 
Chappelle,  35,  112. 
Claudius,  59,  133,  157-158. 
Combe,  Wm.,  69. 

Defoe,  3. 

Denis,  10,  75,  166. 

Draper,  Eliza,  64-70,  89,  114,  176. 

Eberhard,  5. 

Ebert,  10,  26,  44-46,  59,  62. 


Eckermann,  98,  loi,  104. 
Einsiedel,  59. 
Eschenburg,  2. 

Ferber,  J.  C.  C,  84. 

Ferriar,  77,  78. 

Fielding,  4,  6,    10,  23,  58,  60,  96, 

145,  154- 
Forster,  12. 
Frenais,  60. 

Garrick,  66,  i6r. 

Garve,  22,  135. 

Gay,  92. 

Gebler,  90. 

Gellert,  32,  zi,  120. 

Gellius,  76,  92. 

Gerstenberg,  59. 

Gleim,  2,  3,  59,  85-87,  112,  152. 

Gochhausen,  88,  140-144,  181. 

Gochhausen,  Fraulein  v.,  59. 

Goeckingk,  162-3. 

Goethe,  40,  41,  59,  75,  77,  85,  91, 

97-109,    126,    153,    156,    167,    168, 

170,  180. 
Goeze,  27,  48. 
Goldsmith,  10,  98. 
Goschen,  Georg.  Joachim,  134-135. 
Griffith,  Richard,  74-75. 
Grotthus,  Sara  v.,  40-41. 

Hamann,  28,  29,  59,  69,  71,  97,  153- 

Hartknoch,  28,  2,2,  97. 

Hebbel,  88,  153. 

Hedemann,  136-138. 

Heine,  H.,  103. 

Heinse,  152. 


196 


197 


Herder,  5,  7,  8,  28,  29,  32,  59,  97, 

99,  156. 
Herder,    Caroline   Flachsland,   89, 

99,  152. 
Hermes,  2,  8,  109. 
Hippel,  6,  59,  loi,  I55- 
Hofmann,  J.  C,  88. 
Hopffgarten,  93. 
Hopfner,  69. 
Hume,  63. 

Ireland,  80. 

Jacobi,  59,  85-90,  112-114,  131,  136, 

139,  142,  143. 
Jung-Stilling,  99. 

Kastner,  30. 

Kaufmann,  88. 

Kirchberger,  30. 

Kirsten,  93. 

Klausing,  A.  E.,  'J2.. 

Klopstock,  37,  51,  59- 

Klotz,  21,  114. 

Knebel,  109,  152. 

Knigge,  91,  93,  no,  I54,  166. 

Kolbele,  52. 

Koran,  74-76,  92,  95,  103-108,  153. 

Kotzebue,  133-34- 

Krummacher,  153. 

Lenz,  152. 

Lessing,   24-28,   40-46,   59,   62,    -JT, 

97,  109,  156. 
Leuchsenring,  88. 
Lichtenberg,  4,  78,  84,  158-60. 
Liscow,  3,  24. 

Matthison,  60,  89,  152. 

de  Medalle,  Lydia  Sterne,  64,  68, 

69. 
Medicus,  Wilhelm  Ludwig,  69. 
Mendelssohn,  24,  43,  109,  no. 
Merck,  89,  99,  I39- 
Meyer,  Aug.  Wilh.,  83. 
Miller,  J.  M.,  168,  170,  I73,  180. 


Mittelstedt,  46-47,  55-57,  nS- 

Montaigne,  60. 

Moritz,  K.  P.,  168. 

Moser,  7,  166. 

Miichler,  K.  F.,  79. 

Murray,  Rev.  James,  71. 

Musaus,  10,  91,  138,  152,  153,  158. 

Nicolai,  2-7,  40,  43,  11,  78,  no;  Se- 
baldus  Nothanker,  6,  88,  no, 
150. 

Nicolay,  Ludwig  Heinrich  v.,  158. 

Nonne,  93. 

Opitz,  Christian,  127. 
Ossian,  10. 

Paterson,  Sam'l,  79. 
Percy,  Bishop,  2,  10. 

Raabe,  Wilhelm,  153. 
Rabelais,  60. 
Rabenau,  A.  G.  F.,  138. 
Rahmel,  A.  W.  L.,  166. 
Ramler,  90. 

Richardson,  4,  10,  31,  43,  96,  I79- 
Richter,  Jean  Paul,  75,  91,  I55- 
Riedel,  29-30,  32,  54,  109,  125. 
la  Roche,  Sophie,  I39' 
Rousseau,  4,  71. 

Sattler,  J.  P.,  8. 

Schiller,  135,  I53- 

Schink,  J.  F.,  80-82. 

Schirach,  109. 

Schmidt,  Klamer,  60. 

Schubart,  107. 

Schummel,  59.  93.  n4-i29,  136.  140. 

Schwager,  138. 

Seidelinn,  153. 

Shadwell,  25. 

Smollett,  63. 

Sonnenfels,  125. 

Stephanie,  d.  j.,  153. 

Stevenson,  J.  H.,  44-53.  57- 64.  81, 

105. 


198 


Stolberg,  6i. 

Sturz,  160-162. 

Swift,  69,  146,  157,  160. 

V.  Thummel,  93,  135,  155. 
Timme,  168-179. 

Usteri,  30. 

Wagner,  H.  L.,  41,  157. 
Wegener,  150-151. 
Weisse,  Chr.  Felix,  68. 
Wezel,  no,  138,  144-150,  179-181. 


Wieland,  10,  14,  31,  32,  42,  59,  61, 

11,  90,  93-99,  103,  146,  156,  181. 
Wilkes,  64. 
Wittenberg,  53,  87. 
V.  Wolzogen,  153. 

Young,  7,  10,  149-150. 

Zelter,  98,  102. 

Ziegler,  Louise  v.   (Lila),  89. 
Zimmermann,  31,  59. 
Ziickert,   12-18,  22,   31,  Z2,  37,  58- 
60,  99. 


VITA 

T,  Harvey  Waterman  Thayer,  was  born  Sept.  21,  1873,  in 
Woolwich,  Maine.  I  attended  the  public  schools,  and  fitted  for 
college  at  Limington  Academy,  Limington,  Maine.  I  entered 
Bowdoin  College  in  the  autumn  of  1891,  and  was  graduated  in 
the  class  of  1895.  The  following  year  I  was  a  student  in  Har- 
vard University,  devoting  myself  to  the  study  of  the  Germanic 
Languages  and  Literatures.  I  had  courses  under  Profs. 
Francke,  Schilling,  von  Jagemann  and  Hill,  and  Dr.  Garrett. 
For  two  semesters,  1898-9,  I  was  a  student  in  the  University  of 
Leipzig,  hearing  lectures  by  Profs.  Sievers,  Holz,  Elster, 
Koster,  and  attending  the  proseminar  of  Prof.  Sievers  for  one 
semester  and  that  of  Prof.  Elster  for  a  similar  period.  During 
the  year  igoi-2  I  held  a  University  Fellowship  in  Germanic 
Languages  and  Literatures  in  Columbia  University,  attending 
lectures  and  seminars  under  Prof.  W.  H.  Carpenter,  Prof.  Cal- 
vin Thomas  and  Prof.  W.  P.  Trent.  The  summer  of  1899  I 
spent  in  Germany  collecting  material  for  the  present  study, 
working  in  a  number  of  libraries,  but  principally  at  Gottingen 
and  Berlin.  ^_  ,^ 

>-      OF  THE 

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